Streisand Effect, anyone?

[rcjordan]

Arbitrator prohibits Meta whistleblower from promoting tell-all book

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/12/arbitrator-prohibits-meta-whistleblower-from-promoting-tell-all-book.html

[ergophobe]

>> Streisand Effect

I'm not sure. Tesla has been suing Chinese customers who complain about their cars on social media for defamation. And this is also the new model that is being used more and more in the US by a certain commander in chief and his advisor in chief.

The thing about it is that it *may* get more publicity for the case at hand, but the goal is to make people afraid to say these things in the first place. It is having a chilling effect on major US media outlets which increasingly are settling in these cases rather than risk taking them before the current SCOTUS.

I think you'll see big companies and wealthy/powerful individuals taking this approach more and more.

[rcjordan]

related

Cartoonists doing the job journalists are too afraid to do

https://old.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/1jaepl1/cartoonistsis_doing_the_job_journalists_are_too/

[rcjordan]

^{yup. Streisand Effect.}

A Meta tell-all memoir is soaring on Amazon's best-sellers rankings after legal efforts to quash it

https://www.fastcompany.com/91297683/meta-tell-all-memoir-carless-people-amazon-book-best-seller-rank-legal-fight

[buckworks]

>> Meta tell-all

A friend recommended it, and I'm partway through the audio version. Some parts made me think of The Devil Wears Prada.

So far, I'd rate it as okay but not stellar.

[ergophobe]

Does it add much to the France Haugen revelations?

[buckworks]

.. France Haugen revelations

Can't say, I'm not familiar with those.

[ergophobe]

Frances Haugen is the first big Zuckerverse whistleblower. Blew up in the media. On 60 Minutes. Testified before Congress which resulted Zuck before Congress himself.

She turned over documents showing that in many countries a large percentage of the top 10 videos were beheadings and that the Zuckerverse would never do anything about it if it would hurt revenue.

Covered widely and deeply...

https://time.com/6121931/frances-haugen-facebook-whistleblower-profile/

Of course, Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin do a great job interviewing her
https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/42-a-conversation-with-facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen

[buckworks]

>> never do anything about it if it would hurt revenue

The Zuckerverse should remember that pigs get fat, but hogs get slaughtered.

I've reached a point in the narrative where the author shows growing discomfort with hypocrisy and morally problematic decisions.

As a Canadian I was struck by the fact that her reason for staying in a job she was becoming disillusioned with was .... health insurance.

I don't know the ending yet, but I can see why Zuck wouldn't like the book.

[ergophobe]

>> health insurance

Mobility (not social mobility, but actual mobility - people moving to a new place) has collapsed in the US over the last 75 years. We are much, much less mobile than we were in 1950 or 1970. Much of this is the cost of housing, but I think the fear of quitting a job and losing health insurance is another big factor.

[rcjordan]

US Census:
About 86% of U.S. private-sector employees worked for establishments that offered employer-sponsored health insurance, according to a 3-year average based on 2020-2022 data collected by the Insurance Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2024/02/health-care-costs.html

========

^{(Note the biased source)}

Employer-provided coverage is not only efficient for the more than 160 million Americans who rely on it but also tremendously valuable to both businesses and workers. When the program began, it was designed to help retain and attract workers in the aftermath of World War II.

The Origins and Growth of Employer-Provided Insurance | U.S. Chamber of Commerce
https://www.uschamber.com/health-care/origins-and-growth-of-employer-provided-insurance

===========

>designed to help retain and attract workers

I now tend to believe that employer-provided health insurance has devolved into a scheme to lock in employees and make them less likely to voluntarily leave. This is particularly true when considering becoming self-employed or working for a small business.

[ergophobe]

>>  in the aftermath of World War II.

I believe initially it was a response to wage freezes *during* the war. Employers couldn't compete on price, so they competed on benefits.

[rcjordan]

How 'Careless People' is becoming a bigger problem for Meta | The Verge

"It's now also of interest to multiple governments.

"Members of the United States Congress, the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and the Parliament of the European Union have requested to speak with Ms. Wynn-Williams on the issues of public concern raised in her memoir," her motion to lift the gag order reads. 'These include Meta's coordination with the Chinese Communist Party, its exploitation of emotionally vulnerable teenage girls, and its conduct in this very arbitration.'"

https://www.theverge.com/command-line-newsletter/634080/careless-people-sarah-wynn-williams-book-meta-congress