>And society should absolutely start to dictate to Facebook what it can and cannot do to prevent it from abusing its power.
We have no good mechanism to prevent the government from abusing its power.
Those here defending FB are not arguing that FB can do no wrong, they are arguing that fixing a problem _with another broken system_ is not an improvement, and is, in fact, a step backwards.
I can opt out of FB, and I have. Facebook exerts no influence over me, compared to the influence the government exerts over me.
The problems of power abuse and effective communications are ancient ones. There's nothing that prevents private individuals or corporations from abusing power either, and there's a very long history of them having done just that.
Government, for better or worse, is a vehicle for channeling and aggregating power, in a way that at best benefits society as a whole, expresses the preferences of the majority, and respects the rights of the minority. It's far from perfect. But it's better than most alternatives.
Facebook is granted rights by governments, ultimately also to benefit the public at large. Facebook is not itself a government, though it transacts the online communications of a population larger than all but the very largest countries.
We have no good mechanism to prevent the government from abusing its power.
Those here defending FB are not arguing that FB can do no wrong, they are arguing that fixing a problem _with another broken system_ is not an improvement, and is, in fact, a step backwards.
I can opt out of FB, and I have. Facebook exerts no influence over me, compared to the influence the government exerts over me.