Meta Threads Are the Next Round in a Race to the Bottom
People Aren’t Just Leaving Twitter Because It Doesn’t Work — It’s Also A Cesspool; Meta’s Platforms Are No Better — and A Massive Privacy Risk.
6 July 2013 — The Real Facebook Oversight Board issued the following statement for attribution about the launch of Meta’s “threads” today:
Because of the arrogance of its owner, Twitter is quite literally broken — with Elon Musk’s attempted changes to his platform angering millions, disabling key features and for many, slowing the platform to a non-functioning crawl. Mark Zuckerberg and Meta hope to capitalize with their own product released today, Threads.
But users aren’t just fleeing Twitter because it’s broken. They’re fleeing because its a cesspool of trolls, hate, anti-semitism, racism, extremism and anti-gay bile, spit up in many cases by its own leader. It’s a conversation so debased that advertisers are fleeing and users log on with a cringe.
But Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is no better. Pedophilia. Porn-baiting. Data harvesting. Silencing critical journalism. Non-English disinformation. Platforming anti-vaxxers just like Twitter. And the companies are both trashing election safeguards ahead of 2024. Meta’s threads are such a massive privacy risk they won’t even launch in Europe, ‘reportedly due to concerns around adhering to local data privacy regulation.’
Meta, like Twitter, offers disinformation with impunity — an ecosystem that is dividing, misleading and tarnishing the brand of advertisers — not the public square they have both repeatedly promised. Do not inhale the spin that Meta can offer a grown-up alternative to Twitter: Users will swim in the same cesspool as twitter, even if they aren’t limiting views to 600 posts a user.
Meta threads are the next round in a race to the bottom, which can’t ever be won in a Zuckerberg-Musk cage fight. The only solution is real, independent and strong regulation and oversight.
Real Facebook Oversight Board members are available for interviews. Statements do not reflect the individual positions of all Real Facebook Oversight Board Members. Contact us at media@the-citizens.com.
