this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2025
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John Oliver cited a 5000% rise in search queries related to leaving Meta and deleting accounts. Among the topics mentioned in the analysis, attention was drawn to early Facebook's naivete with regard to moderation requirements, the constitutional framework, and a history of governmental interference.

Oliver debunks common right-wing "cry censorship" talking points, as well as the objective difficulty of moderation endeavors, and how direct threats by Trump may have influenced Zuckerberg's turnaround.

Oliver went on to suggest Signal, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Pixelfed as alternatives that "do not seem as desperate to fall in line with Trump". For those reluctant to completely ditch Meta, Oliver revealed a new site with step-by-step instructions to "make yourself less valuable to them".

The guide was a collaboration with the EFF, and includes settings' tweaks for Facebook and Meta, whose 98% of revenue comes from micro-targeting ads, the host previously cited, to increase privacy, and recommends Firefox, Privacy Badger, as "other measures" to take in order "to block advertisers and other third parties from tracking you".

The segment culminated in a mock advert, in which the new Meta's approach to moderation is coined as "Fuck it", and hints to racism, internet scams, and calls to genocide running rampant on Meta's platforms.

The clip reminds the origins of Facebook as a site to "rank college girls by hotness", and its implication in genocide in Myanmar, which was more thoroughly discussed in an Oliver's previous special on Facebook in 2018.

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[–] Greg@lemmy.ca 76 points 16 hours ago (8 children)

I don’t want to get my hopes up but is this Facebook’s MySpace moment?

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 58 points 16 hours ago

My personal MySpace moment for Facebook was 10 years ago. Best choice ever made.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 10 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

So much of Facebook is just automated accounts responding to automated accounts in order to milk gullible advertisers. If everyone logged off tomorrow, I don't know if Zuckerberg would notice.

[–] PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk 14 points 11 hours ago

i have certainly notices a SHARP downturn of new content being added to insta and facebook by people i actually know over the last few years.

All that seems to be left is AI Slop and ragebait. a venn diagram that overlaps considerably

[–] 1SimpleTailor@startrek.website 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Seems like a win tbh. Meta stops influencing people and collecting their data, while dumbass corps waste money on ads nobody will see.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 points 10 hours ago

Meta will still influence people, because a lot of the influence is through news aggregators automatically ingesting what Facebook shows as "Trending" and regurgitates it elsewhere.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 27 points 14 hours ago

MySpace was way smaller than Facebook, it wasn't even available where I am for most of its (meaningful) existence (I never had a MySpace despite being the exact target age range).

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 19 points 15 hours ago

Nobody left MySpace because of enshitification

[–] auraithx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 13 hours ago

Even better. It’s the fediverses Facebook moment.

[–] leraje@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 14 hours ago

Not immediately or probably for some years. Facebook's main problem is the fact its got an aging population and no young people joining. That's why Meta bought Instagram and is desperate to get their grubby paws on TikTok or force it to close down in the West.

I think internally, over the next decade, FB will start to die off organically as Meta put ever increasing focus on retention and young people.

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 10 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

I don’t think so. There’s no good alternative to Facebook that is worth leaving it for. When MySpace died, there was a significantly better alternative (FB). Even if people quit using Facebook regularly, they’ll need to keep it.

[–] then_three_more@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

What do people use Facebook for these days? (I deleted my account about 10 years ago so I'm not sure what it's for now)

[–] sierramccharlie@lemmy.world 5 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

I've been gone from FB for about 3 months but for me it was the groups. You could find groups for anything, but I miss my local groups most. Particularly the No-Buy and vegan and political activist groups. Finding an equivalent outside of FB is sub par, if it even exists at all.

[–] then_three_more@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago

Yeah that does actually sound pretty decent.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 1 points 12 hours ago

I'm actually not sure what it is fb offers that people stay on it for. I find that you don't need it to connect with actual friends. Even just making a Slack for close friends is a far better experience. It's not great for finding news, it's terrible for trying to have any sort of discussion. I genuinely don't understand what purpose it serves.

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 8 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

There's literally billions of people on Facebook, so probably not. But maybe it's a start.

[–] spooky2092@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 7 hours ago

*Billions of accounts. Hard to tell how many are real people and how many are just slop throwing bots.