Facebook users just don't get it. Facebook is not a public utility. Facebook is not a taxpayer-funded venture. Facebook is a private company, formed for the sole purpose of making money.
So, if you want to use Facebook, you legally agree to THEIR terms of service. You promise to behave yourself, according to THEIR definitions of what constitutes OK behavior. so, if you transgress upon THEIR rules, you can expect Draconian measures to be taken against you, like poor Louis Barclay.
Barclay has been "permanently" banned from Facebook and Instagram. He has been forced to agree to never write any software that interacts with any of Facebook's products. And what did Mr. Barclay do to deserve such a heavy-handed smackdown? he wrote a browser extension that allows one to unfollow everything, at once. That's it. Instead of banning the browser extension, Facebook slammed down on Mr. Barclay with its full might. I say Mr. Barclay was forced to agree to Facebook's idiotic terms because, as he himself observed, to not agree would be to open himself to legal action by a trillion-dollar company.
At the end of it all, the stark reality is, Facebook belongs to Mark Zuckerburg. If you want to use it, you play by HIS rules, period. I disagree with Zuckerburg's rules, so I don't play in his frog pond. Unlike so many of those who prowl the net, I am not worried about missing anything, or not hearing about something first. If it's important, I'm sure I will hear of it eventually. And to those, like whistleblower Frances Haugen, who compare Facebook to cigarettes? I say, YOU can choose not to smoke. I see Haugen as nothing more than a disgruntled ex-employee, hoping for a high-dollar handout. Watch and see if I am not right.
So I shall sit here, in this little corner of the internet, spouting my ideas as long as Google puts up with me. And if Google decides they don't like what I am saying, and shuts me down? Well, it is THEIR frog pond, not mine. Like Facebook, Google is in their businesses to make money. I find no shame in that. You just have to remember what frog pond you are playing in, and to conduct yourself accordingly.
P.S. Two months later, and nothing from the Olympic committee. See the post on de-platforming Olympic protests.
