Many people don't think about this as they scroll through their social media feeds when they are bored and have some spare time to mess around on their phones, but Facebook is an evil company looking to erode our privacy and control us.
"But wait, rav3n," you're probably saying, "Isn't my decision whether or not to use Facebook?"
It is your choice. But do you know how Facebook destroys your privacy behind the scenes, while you keep pressing Like and Share? Let's take a look to help you get a little more informed.
The dangers of Facebook and other large social media platforms.
Before we get into the privacy nightmares surrounding Facebook and other social platforms, but Facebook especially, you should know how Facebook is generally dangerous. These days, it is rare for someone not to be on Facebook. In fact, you may even be seen as strange for not being on Facebook, but don't let that deter you from taking control of your life back from Zuckerberg and his evil cronies.
Known evils of Facebook.
Here are some of the worst ways that Facebook shows us just how evil they are, and how they don't truly care about their users.
Facebook's love of censorship - Facebook is well known for shutting down opinions they don't like. Whether it is political, religious, or something else, if it is a post that goes aganist the Facebook agenda, it can be deleted without explanation, and your account can be suspended or even banned because of it. If you care about freedom of speech, Facebook (and most other social platforms) are your enemies by default.
Facebook thinks it knows what you want more than you do - Facebook loves to think it knows its users better than the users themselves, and has made it very hard for a normal user to find their account controls and access to deleting their account easily if they want to. If you choose to delete your account, Facebook will "make sure you really want to" by merely deactivating your account for two weeks, and if you don't sign in for those two weeks, your account is (supposedly) deleted. It should be much easier to delete your account, and it should be deleted instantaneously, not several weeks later.
Facebook forces users to use their real names - Facebook doesn't allow users to practice pseudo-anonymity online, instead forcing them to use their real names as they show on their government issued ID card. If your real name changes, you will have to send Facebook your legal documentation proving the legal name change before you can be allowed to change it on Facebook. This is a gross overreach of power, and makes using Facebook dangerous for people who don't want to use their real name for their own reasons, whether they simply like to stay private online, or perhaps even trying to escape from an abusive stalker. Facebook doesn't care. In fact, Facebook has tried to encourage users to rat out their friends who aren't using their real names on the platform.
These aren't even some of the worst offenders. For a more thorough list about how Facebook is "Zucking" you, check out this list of evil things Facebook does from Richard Stallman.
Are there any alternatives to Facebook?
As it turns out, you don't have to depend on Zuckbook or the other big name social platforms if you want to express yourself online. There are other, more privacy-respecting and censorship-free platforms that you can turn to when you get sick of Facebook invading your privacy and telling you what you can and cannot post.
Here are a few of the best alternatives to Facebook:
Gab Social - Called the "Free Speech Social Network" by its creator and the people who use it, Gab is a social network that is a fork of Mastodon, who has been run off the internet several times for refusing to censor user posts. Gab follows the Constitution of the United States when enforcing site rules, and users are free to express any opinion they like as long they aren't threatening to harm others or doxx someone else.
Parler - Parler is another social platform that has no agenda, aiming to give users a free place to express themselves without fear of being censored or de-platformed because of their opinions, no matter how unpopular those opinions may be.
Minds - Minds is one of the leading alternative social networks, aiming to help take power away from Big Tech and put it back in the hands of users. Minds offers users a way to monetize their content using digital tokens.
Mastodon - Mastodon is not one social network as much as it is a decentralized collection of social networks joined together in the "fediverse." Mastodon is free software, allowing anyone to take its code, run it on their server, and start their own social site they are in complete control of.
Check out some of these options if you're ready to kick Facebook out of your life. Personally, I am on Mastodon and Gab, and have been Facebook-free for quite awhile now. It is a freeing feeling when you rid yourself of the shackles imposed on you by Big Tech, and when folks decide to get off of Facebook and move onto one of these alternative platforms, or better yet, start their own website where they are in complete control, they take a tiny bit of control back from Zuck and into their own hands.
This stuff is a small sample of why I encourage everyone to #DeleteFacebook as soon as they can.