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Facebook, Google, Amazon, the lot of them — despite the undoubted ways they have pushed our species into the future, there is something inherently nefarious about them.
Just think about some of the great sci-fi stories of our lifetime:
- Terminator takes place in a world undone by Skynet.
- Blade Runners only exist in Blade Runner because of the Tyrell Corporation.
- And more recently, the strings behind Westworld are being pulled by the mysterious.
All of these examples just prove that behind every massive international technology company is some shady, shady shit that has the potential to push life as we know it to the brink. And finally, one of them got caught.
Ever since 2016, Facebook has been a hotbed of controversy, whether it be due to their shady data-mining practices tied to advertising in the 2016 elections and their proliferation hate speech and “fake news”.
Now — after two years of declining users and embarrassing Mark Zuckerberg moments — the company is facing the consequences, as Reuters is reporting that Facebook lost 24% of its value — roughly $119 billion — on the stock market as the company’s second-quarter results came.
via Reuters:
Facebook Inc’s shares lost as much as a quarter of their value on Wednesday after executives said that profit margins would plummet for several years due to the costs of improving privacy safeguards and slowing usage in the biggest advertising markets.
The second-quarter results were the first sign that a new European privacy law and a succession of privacy scandals involving Cambridge Analytica and other app developers have bit into Facebook’s business. The company further warned that the toll would not be offset by revenue growth from emerging markets and Facebook’s Instagram app, which has been more immune from privacy concerns.
Operating profit margin, which fell to 44 percent in the second quarter from 47 percent a year ago, will sink to the “mid-30s” for more than two years, Chief Financial Officer David Wehner said in investor guidance.
Does all that economic jargon go right over my head? Absolutely. But I don’t care. I just want to temporarily dance on the grave on one of the evil technological corporations that are eventually going to enslave humankind. NBD.
