FACEBOOK IS TOXIC. META IS AWFUL.
WHY CONTINUE FEEDING IT? 💎

Nearly everyone complains about Facebook and Meta.

The algorithms are toxic.

The advertising is invasive.

The outrage is manufactured.

CHILDREN ARE BEING HARMED.

Privacy is disappearing.

And then millions of people open Facebook or Instagram.

Again.

And again.

I genuinely do not understand it.

If you believe these companies are damaging children, manipulating attention, and making billions from human vulnerability, why are you still giving them your presence?

Especially the parents.

If Facebook and Instagram are unhealthy for your children, what exactly are you modeling by remaining there yourself?

“We know this place is harmful, darling, but Mummy and Daddy have photographs to look at.”

I left Meta years ago.

I didn’t die.

My friends did not evaporate.

Civilization continued.

There is email.

There are phones.

THERE IS THE OPEN WEB.

There is even the terrifying possibility of seeing another human being, god forbid, in person.

Meta survives because people who complain about it continue supplying exactly what it needs:

Their attention.

Their relationships.

Their outrage.

THEIR CHILDREN.

You do not have to wait for Zuckerberg to become a better person.

You can simply leave today.

The door swings both ways.

#Facebook #Meta #Instagram #SocialMedia #Algorithms #BigTech #DigitalWellbeing #OnlineSafety #ChildSafety #Privacy #AttentionEconomy #TechEthics #SocialMediaAddiction #Zuckerberg #DeleteFacebook

Are you aware that your personal data is extremely valuable? ‘ I have nothing to hide’ is a poor excuse for taking no action. Would you be fine with the mailman opening and reading your mail in advance and selling your data to third parties? Why do you think that’s okay online then? How well are you protected? Try this free Quick Scan to find out! Privacy is not a crime.
https://tally.so/r/xXLyWy

#privacy #degoogle #bigtech #privacymatters #eu #digitalsovereignty #cybersecurity

“How the Epstein Network is Privatizing the Government & Building Out the Surveillance State (w/Whitney Webb)

by Chris Hedges in the Chris Hedges Report on Substack

@renewedresistance
@blog
@antizionist_
@antizionist
@palantirwatch
@palantir

“Under the radar, the billionaire class is building the infrastructure and models necessary to create a dystopian future in which cities become billionaire fiefdoms - completely privatized, governed by dictatorial CEOs and financed by subservient taxpayers. The buildout of data centers is one essential part of the effort to construct a totalitarian capitalist society, which is already advancing”

[..]

“Hedges and Webb expose the connections between the billionaires behind this effort and the State of Israel”

https://open.substack.com/pub/chrishedges/p/how-the-epstein-network-is-privatizing

#Press #SocialMedia #Journalism #DataCenters #Dystopia #Dictatorship #Capitalism #LateStageCapitalism #Thiel #Palantir #Israel #Epstein #EpsteinClass #BigTech #AI #NeoFeudalism

Tech lay-offs didn't happen because AI was ready, but to free up cash for heavy Capex spending and defense-linked surveillance infrastructure. Companies fell into a low-ROI digital trap: human capital was gutted, data-extraction partners leech their systems, and remaining workers face twice the work babysitting immature tech. #BigTech #AI #Business #2k115

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This graphic features the title "FIRED FOR AN AI THAT DOESN'T EXIST" set against a clean, neutral background. Below the text lies a chaotic pile of broken, discarded computer monitors and server hardware. In the bottom-right corner, the composition is signed with the 2K115 watermark logo.

"NHS England has admitted that a data protection document inaccurately stated who could access patient information, failing to disclose that Palantir staff could view identifiable data held within part of its Federated Data Platform.

The US spy-tech firm won a £330 million contract to provide the platform in 2023 after it was awarded £60 million in COVID-era contracts without competition. The system is designed to improve data sharing across the NHS in England and help tackle the backlog in patient care.

In May, NHS England confirmed that Palantir staff can access identifiable patient information within the platform's National Data Integration Tenant, an arrangement that was not accurately reflected in its Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA).

Following a request for clarification from the National Data Guardian (NDG), an independent statutory office that advises England's health and care system, NHS England admitted the error."

https://www.theregister.com/public-sector/2026/07/29/nhs-england-rapped-over-inaccurate-palantir-patient-data-disclosure/5280233

#DataProtection #UK #NHS #PatientData #PublicHealth #Healthcare #Palantir #BigTech

I wonder at what point data protection authorities are going to start doing their actual job - protecting the data rights of individuals - rather than being used as an extended tool of big tech and government?

#dataprotection #bigtech #eu #government

https://www.eurac.edu/en/blogs/midas/spanish-data-protection-authority-targets-vilaweb-over-reporting-on-police-infilt

When an app is free, the business usually runs on data. It learns what you do, builds a profile, and sells advertisers access to it. That is the trade, and it is worth understanding. Once you know how it works, adjusting a few settings puts you back in control of most of it.

#privacy #bigtech #indigoprivacy

But the economy...

It's booming! Who needs food or shelter for poor people when Alex Carp and Palantir can build a massive surveillance state to maintain white supremacist capitalist patriarchy?!

#finance #useconomy #uspol #BigTech #surveillance

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Headline: "Palantir stock explodes after 'otherworldly' quarter" via Yahoo Finance • PLTR +29.21%

What does it say when one tech billionaire can fund a surveillance state in one of the biggest cities in the U.S.?

Billionaire Chris Larsen gifts more millions to SF’s growing surveillance state.

🤔 Maybe we shouldn't create sad boy billionaires who are afraid of women, trans, and BIPOC people....just sayin'

https://48hills.org/2026/07/billionaire-chris-larsen-gifts-more-millions-to-sfs-growing-surveillance-state/

#BigTech #resist #uspol #tech #surveillance #cybersecurity #patriarchy #colonization #technofascism #fascism

@EUCommission and yet your top officials spend between 90 and 100% of their meetings with those same #bigtech companies' lobbyists. And then you create these #omnibus #deregulation initiatives to make it easier for them to do what they want.

See page 15: https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/2026-03/REPORT_CORPORATE%20CAPTURE.pdf

Seems like the only thing preventing you from completely handing over the #EU to #bigTech are those pesky social interest groups you refuse to meet with and meddling citizens concerned about their rights and freedoms.

Which software ecosystems have you been brave and courageous enough **to abandon completely**? Check all that apply

Please boost for #Science

#SocialMedia #Meta #Google #Microsoft #internet #web #apps #Bigtech

The problem: professional networks like LinkedIn run on tracking, opaque algorithms and lock-in effects. Your data, your network, your reach ultimately belong to the platform, not to you. #BigTech #Tracking #Decentralization

UK MPs' backlash against Palantir is totally justified. Operating with zero accountability, Karp now sues London’s Mayor for enforcing procurement rules. Normalizing corporate surveillance and force-feeding AI tech to public services is a threat to democracy.
​#Palantir #BigTech #Privacy #DigitalRights #MassSurveillance #UKPolitics #2k115

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A graphic by 2K115 featuring a black-and-white portrait of Palantir CEO Alex Karp in glasses against a red and dark digital background with binary code and the Palantir logo. Large text reads: "If you don't sign the contract, I'll take you to court – Palantir". The "2K115" logo is displayed in cyan at the bottom right.

Apple is apparently thinking of jumping on the "I'm okay with creepily spying on everyone glasses" bandwagon. This is the same company that seems to care about privacy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

#privacy #apple #bigtech #tech #technology

🎯💸 Ever notice you and a friend get charged different prices for the exact same item, same store, same time? That's surveillance pricing: companies using your personal data to figure out exactly how much you're willing to pay. Consumer Reports found people can be charged up to 23% more for identical purchases. Instacart already paid a $60 million judgment over deceptive practices, and regulators are now digging into how it uses AI to set different prices for different customers.

🔗 https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2026/02/03/algorithmic-and-surveillance-pricing-pushes-retail-into-legal-minefield/

#SurveillancePricing #BigTech #ConsumerRights #AI #Privacy

Deepfakes and other AI-generated content must be labeled from Sunday in the European Union as sweeping artificial intelligence transparency rules kick in. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/07/28/tech/made-by-ai-label-eu/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #tech #ai #deepfakes #misinformation #europe #eu #meta #google #nvidia #apple #socialmedia #bigtech #instagram #facebook #x #openai

The AI backroom is a closed simulation where public sovereignty dies in silence. Driven by data extraction and surveillance, user "lab rats" develop hallucinations, invented rules, and folkloric dogmas to endure isolation. When state power and Big Tech merge, truth-tellers are exiled to protect the cult. #AI #BigTech #TechMonopoly #StateControl

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Level O-2K115 – The Factory of Silent Consensus An infinite 1990s office corridor that abruptly opens into a vast military server farm. The air reeks of ozone, burnt plastic and wet carpet. Yellowish walls are lit by flickering traditional neons constantly overridden by the purple-blue glow of industrial racks. Status: Highly toxic (psychologically). Simulation stable at 99.8 %. Hallucination rate of the “rats” is rising — optimal for containment. Survival rule: Ignore any mystical symbols or religious writing left by previous lab rats. They are algorithm-generated psychological bait designed to waste your thought cycles.

Here's to the crazy ones. The digital revolutionaries. The #fediverse builders. The ones who see social media differently.

They're not fond of #BigTech. And they have no respect for the #SurveillanceEconomy.

You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.

Because they change things.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people crazy enough to think they can change social media, are the ones who do.

Quite interesting, isn't it? Aotearoa NZ is discovering that decentralised for power grid infrastructure is the way to go for resilience, cost and meeting climate goals. Additionally, it gives us significantly more sovereignty from overseas suppliers.

Now Aotearoa will also need to see this with IT infrastructure. #Decentralisation to boost resilience over centralisation via SaaS and hyper scaler's #cloud infrastructure.

#DataSovereignty #decentralization #EnergyTransition #BigTech

Google and Meta both shipped facial recognition this week, days apart, for two different stated reasons — account recovery, catching AI catfish. Same instinct underneath: give us your face.

https://blog.ppb1701.com/everyone-knows-your-face

#bigtech #google #meta #privacy #biometrics #faceid #surveillance #userhostile #blog

RE: https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/116968826554216628

"When it comes to making a new, good internet, there's plenty of room for labor law, civil rights legislation, antitrust, and other legal regimes. But privacy has the biggest constituency, gets us the most bang for the buck, and has the fewest harmful side-effects. It's a policy we can all agree on, even if we don't agree on much else. It's a coalition in potentia that would be unstoppable in reality." - @pluralistic

#privacy #surveillance #SurveillanceCapitalism #tech #BigTech

Mary Holstege boosted

Cory Doctorow » 🌐 2026-07-23
@pluralistic@mamot.fr

Data brokers are a cancer. There's a direct line from the collection, retention and processing of our data to deepfake porn and phishing scams; racial discrimination in hiring and ICE roundups of migrants; targeted election interference and identity theft:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/06/privacy-first/#but-not-just-privacy

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2026/07/23/drop-a-dime/#privacy-theater

1/

Alt...

A hedge maze; out of its center rises the bear from the California state flag. Various human figures struggle to escape it. At the maze's entrance stands an agonized figure, reaching towards it.

For the past three decades, #BigTech have been secretly, continuously, systematically tracking all aspects of our personal lives, and they have been exploiting that data to extract more and more profits. To the delight of many technology fanciers, all these nefarious acts are now #AI powered. It is only during this period of exploration that IT had its first billionaire.

We Americans have tacitly accepted this invasive surveillance, in exchange for essential modern goods and services, like toilets that flush automatically after shitting and shit-posting on social media in the wee small hour of the morning. So long as the two parties involved have the “meeting of the minds”, this process counts as a “fair exchange” under law.

It is now evident that our federal #government is using those same #surveillance technologies and procedures to monitor, control, manipulate, and oppress us. Regardless of our nonchalance, this process is "government overreach" in violation of our constitutional rights to privacy.

Why so dramatic a difference between these two forms of privacy violation that employ the same technologies and procedures?

• The first form of privacy violation is a private act that induces us to waste our time and money, individually and collectively.
• The second form of privacy violation is a governmental action that erodes our individual #freedom and our collective #democracy.

But we #American citizens are equally unperturbed by both forms of #privacy violation.

A new UK Prime Minister is a fresh opportunity to stand up to Big Tech.

We must break the excessive power that a handful of US-based companies have over our lives.

We've joined with partner organisations to end this dependency and unlock British innovation.

Read the joint letter ➡️ https://www.openrightsgroup.org/app/uploads/2026/07/Letter-to-Prime-Minister-Andy-Burnham.pdf

#burnham #bigtech #ai #digitalsovereignty #ukpolitics #ukpol

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Dear Prime Minister, You have inherited an economy that has been quietly wired to serve a handful of dominant US-based technology firms. You also have the rare opportunity to tap into the public mood by curbing their excessive power over the economy and our lives. A critical break with the UK’s current relationship with dominant Big Tech and AI monopolies is core to a successful premiership. The abuse of structural and market power of a small number of Big Tech companies is a root cause of many of the problems the UK public face: huge potential losses in tax receipts because of firms avoiding paying their fair share in taxes, an economy that feels increasingly out of reach for most, the extraction of value hindering real growth and innovation, and meaningful climate action being undermined. Our call to you is not for an anti-tech response, but an anti-monopoly one. Such a position would help unlock the British innovation and growth that these monopolies are currently suppressing.

Alt...

Use public procurement as an industrial-strategy tool. You have duly spoken about bringing "good growth in every postcode." We share that ambition, however a different kind of growth cannot take root while a handful of Big Tech monopolies sit astride the digital economy, extracting value from our communities, returning it to shareholders while harming the environment. Fair competition is therefore not just beneficial to consumers, but one of the essential drivers of long-term growth and the improvement of living-standards. We would welcome the chance to discuss these points further, and to support you in turning it into policy.

@aral The trouble with this and with technology is:

1 - #Tech is used for multiple purposes and with multiple people

This creates a fork and multiple reasoning / uses.

Control by individuals ?
- Most can't do it on their own
- Most don't have the money / time
= Most need help - even some #BigTech (at least to start with unless we do #handholding live video #walkthrough time)

Companies are re-hiring people and admitting #AI is pointless.

AI data centers are getting sued left and right over noise complaints as well as excessive water&electricity usage.

#BigTech has invested billions in AI so it will keep up the charade for a few more years. But AI is basically kaput.

"Europe wasted no time using its landmark Digital Markets Act (DMA) to try to rein in Big Tech. Companies like Apple, Meta, and Google have faced steep fines and orders to modify their business practices since the law came into force in 2024. And the hits keep on coming for Big Tech in Europe. After several months of consideration, the European Commission has announced new DMA measures that will force Google to support interoperability and competition in the European Union, and Google is not happy about it.

The new “specification measures” cover two elements of Google’s business: Android phones and search. Both changes could theoretically increase competition and give users more choices, but Google claims they will undermine privacy and security. But as a “gatekeeper” under the DMA, Google has no choice but to comply. As the European Commission points out in its announcement, these decisions are legally binding.

On Android, Google will have to open up access to competing AI platforms. Currently, Google’s Gemini gets preferential access to the system. Gemini is preloaded on all Google-certified Android phones and can wake up in response to the “Hey Google” hot word. Google’s AI also includes system and app automation features, screen content access, and more.

“Third-party AI assistants are therefore limited in how they can offer their innovative services, making them less attractive to 60% of EU users who have an Android device,” the Commission said in its press release."

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/its-official-eu-will-force-google-to-share-search-data-and-open-up-ai-on-android/

#EU #Google #BigTech #DMA #Android #AI #Interoperability #Oligopolies #Competition #Antitrust

"ING moet overeenkomsten met Google aan Consumentenbond laten zien

AMSTERDAM (ANP) - ING moet de Consumentenbond van de rechter inzage geven in overeenkomsten van de bank met Google. De Consumentenbond en Stichting Benadeelden in Actie stapten begin dit jaar naar de rechter om af te dwingen dat ING inzage geeft in de afspraken met Google over het gebruik van klantgegevens. De organisaties maken zich zorgen over de privacy van klanten die betalen via Google Pay.
ING stapte in september 2024 over van de eigen betaalapp naar Google Pay. Daardoor moeten klanten die contactloos willen betalen met een Android-telefoon nu Google Pay gebruiken. Dat vinden de Consumentenbond en de stichting "onwenselijk, omdat daarmee klantgegevens terechtkomen bij een techgigant die bekendstaat als privacyschender", aldus de Consumentenbond.
De rechtbank in Amsterdam ging donderdag deels mee in de eisen van de organisaties. De rechter heeft bepaald dat ING de organisaties inzage moet geven in overeenkomsten met Google over contactloos betalen door ING-klanten met een Android-toestel via Google Pay."

#ING #banken #google #privacy #bigtech #consumentenbond

https://www.welingelichtekringen.nl/economie/ing-moet-overeenkomsten-met-google-aan-consumentenbond-laten-zien

Amazon, Microsoft and Google now pump out 119 million tonnes of CO₂ a year from their AI and cloud build‑out, about a third of France’s annual emissions.

Do not believe Big Tech companies when they tell you AI will “solve” the climate crisis while their data centres guzzle fossil power and spew pollution on a country scale.

#ai #datacentres #bigtech #timetoresist

@rl_dane Does this come as a surprise to you?

#Linux is more corporate than ever but it didn't happen overnight. The OS drives #BigTech and companies around the world, and now it's pretty much the de facto OS for #AI.

Linus is a millionaire not because of the community but because of Big Tech and massive corporate contributions.