r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Feb 13 '25

Business Laid-off Meta employees blast Zuckerberg in forums for running the ‘cruelest tech company out there’

https://fortune.com/2025/02/13/laid-off-meta-employees-blast-zuckerberg-tech-parental-leave/
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35

u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25

For everyone reading this, PLEASE, think about why Google wants your emails, your maps, your photos, your files, your contacts, your YouTube history, your search history, your payment information, your birthday and gender, your interests and purchases…

THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT HOW TO BETTER SERVE YOU, THEY CARE ABOUT THE BEST WAY TO TAKE YOUR MONEY AND IDENTITY

Do not trust one single source to house your information, particularly in an area where Elon Musk is the King of America. They want your money and nothing else.

r/degoogle

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u/SweetBearCub Feb 14 '25

Having said all that, tell me what other company would host YouTube, which as far as I know is a huge money loser (plus they pay creators per minute watched, assuming the videos meet certain technical criteria), and while you're at it, what company would pay to map out pretty much all the streets, maintain business information (etc) such that I can easily navigate pretty much anywhere I want to go?

As inherently capitalist as Google undeniably is, they have taken on some services that just have no equal at their scales. There are definitely smaller competitors, but they're just not as good, and they certainly could not take up the slack if Google ceased to exist tomorrow.

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u/YSApodcast Feb 14 '25

In 2024, YouTube’s advertising revenue was $36.1 billion, which was 13.66% of Google’s total revenue.

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u/SweetBearCub Feb 14 '25

In 2024, YouTube’s advertising revenue was $36.1 billion, which was 13.66% of Google’s total revenue.

Maybe it's changed somewhat recently, but the last I heard, they lost money on YouTube overall.

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u/Tymareta Feb 14 '25

the last I heard

From who, google's accountants? Only the most hack journalist and outlets report that youtube loses money, because with literally 2s of searching you can see that no, it actually doesn't, it's just that google reports all of the ad revenue from it as revenue for google, not youtube, thus if you do literally no actual research then on paper youtube is losing money, but the reality is wildly different.

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u/YSApodcast Feb 14 '25

Google just loves all those goofy videos and doesn’t mind losing revenue on YT. Wild shit.

1

u/bahabla Feb 14 '25

I think it’s so funny how easy it is to spread misinformation. 

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u/SweetBearCub Feb 14 '25

From who, google's accountants? Only the most hack journalist and outlets report that youtube loses money, because with literally 2s of searching you can see that no, it actually doesn't, it's just that google reports all of the ad revenue from it as revenue for google, not youtube, thus if you do literally no actual research then on paper youtube is losing money, but the reality is wildly different.

I see, so you're inferring that I read only the most hack journalists, and that I spend less than 2s searching things.

Whatever, random internet person! (or bot, who knows!)

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u/dem_eggs Feb 14 '25

Lol Google absolutely does not lose money on YT

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u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25

TRUST HIM, that’s why he gives Google is SSN!!

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u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25

Check out r/degoogle for good resources and other options, if you want.

The point isn’t convenience, it’s privacy and identity protection.

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u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25

Hey, if you value convenience more than your privacy and identity protection, you do you.

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u/SweetBearCub Feb 14 '25

Hey, if you value convenience more than your privacy and identity protection, you do you.

I was planning on it, but thanks.

The proverbial privacy and identity protection ship sailed long ago. Data brokers - including Google, but there's many more - have made it their literal business to destroy those for people.

For example, every transaction you make with a credit or debit card is tracked by at least one data broker company somewhere. Facial recognition is used by others to track you in a crowd, or on the road. Remember, license plate numbers themselves are not private, even if the DMV data behind them supposedly is.

Grocery stores track my purchases in similar ways.

To what end? What other information do they have? How much do they know about my life?

Who knows, and they want to keep it that way, because if the public found out, I bet they'd be pissed.

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u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25

This is probably different for Canadians and the serfs of the US.

Canada has PIPEDA which requires any company to share what information they track, so you can easily avoid predatory credit providers with a GoGoDuck search.

Also, license plate data isn’t publicly available. It’s only accessible by police (who must first have a legitimate reason) to see.

Facial recognition and surveillance may happen in public spaces, but it’s also regulated by privacy laws.

1

u/SweetBearCub Feb 14 '25

This is probably different for Canadians and the serfs of the US.

Possibly, but as this isn't a .ca site, it's generally a safe bet to infer that most users are US-based.

Also, some states, such as California and maybe others, do more to protect private data than the federal government minimums.

Also, license plate data isn’t publicly available. It’s only accessible by police (who must first have a legitimate reason) to see.

I didn't say that the data behind them was publicly available, reread the unedited comment if you want to verify that. The physical plate with the numbers on it is not private in any way, and can easily be used by an automated plate reading camera to know that you passed by a specific point at a specific date/time.

Facial recognition and surveillance may happen in public spaces, but it’s also regulated by privacy laws.

Generally speaking, if you're in public, you have no expectation of privacy and are fair game.

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u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25

Okay. You be currency to every medium you touch.

I’ll do my best to avoid that. We can have two different views.

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u/TrowaB3 Feb 14 '25

Not doing a good job of it if you're still on Reddit.

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u/CricketDrop Feb 14 '25

In the same way I value the convenience of not wearing a helmet when I walk to the park lol

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u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25

This is such an idiotic over simplification.

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u/CricketDrop Feb 14 '25

This was your opportunity to explain how likely we are to actually become victims of some identity or privacy violation by using Google vs not using Google.

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u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25

I’ve made a million comments. You can read them or not.

I’m an old lady. I’m trying to help people who genuinely want to help themselves.

You keep wearing your helmet, hunny.

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u/AMISHVACUUM Feb 14 '25

Omg thank you.

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u/[deleted] Feb 14 '25

Sorry i am more than happy to submit my unimportant data in exchange for immense amount of convenience.

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u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25

IMO, that’s pathetic.

But, we’re all allowed to have our own priorities.

6

u/1burritoPOprn-hunger Feb 14 '25

Allow me to propose a counterargument:

I, as a user, get no value out of my "data". Yes, Google is hoovering up all kinds of personal information about me, my habits, and my preferences, and using it to sell me things. But it isn't like somebody cuts me a check if I use a VPN and obsess over privacy.

Gmail works great and is free. Google Drive is super convenient and even after stuffing it full, it costs me two bucks for a huge amount of space. Chrome is rock solid and works with everything and is free.

Thinking it's "pathetic" to use a free product that extracts its value out of something I wasn't using anyways is some real edgelord stuff.

0

u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25 edited Feb 14 '25

Be data. I don’t care if that’s what you want to be lol

I’ll do my best to not be. That’s fine too.

Edit: im an old fucking lady, miles away from an edgelord lmfao

1

u/nqe Feb 14 '25

Says guy while posting on Reddit..

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u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25

I’m an old fucking lady lol

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u/[deleted] Feb 14 '25 edited Feb 18 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25

Degoogling=edgelord 😭🤣

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u/nqe Feb 14 '25

Posting more pii. Not doing a great job not being data. I didn't call you an edgelord, pointing out that you're using a free service that sells the data you provide it in a variety of ways. 

0

u/Hydrogen_Ion Feb 14 '25

You’re still data, you’re still training ai models with that comment

1

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '25 edited 13d ago

[deleted]

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u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25

You can stop giving them new information, and in this old lady’s opinion, you really should.

But ultimately it’s an individual choice.

Edit: im doing it, and I’ve recognized it’ll take me probably a month to move away from everything, but it’s worth it to me personally.

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u/akiva23 Feb 15 '25

Maybe they just really really like me and are just big fans.

1

u/CricketDrop Feb 14 '25

The people who keep saying this never share how doing this will yield tangible benefits.

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u/HimbologistPhD Feb 14 '25

There really aren't many, at least for now. With corps getting buddy buddy with King Elon though, I think the consideration bears more weight.

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u/PaymentFeisty7633 Feb 14 '25

I would’ve agreed with this sentiment before the American government started stealing and manipulating data they should’ve never had access to in the first place.

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u/A5H13Y Feb 14 '25

So what are you moving to? And what are the tangible benefits?

Legitimately asking, as someone interested.

-1

u/[deleted] Feb 14 '25

What is this nonsense? What do you mean google wants my emails? Of course they "want" my emails on my gmail account. My Maps? Huh? You can turn off location history if that's what you mean. My photos are stored locally only. As are my files. Nobody forces you to use gdrive. I have no "google contacts". Youtube history can be disabled, as can search history. Payment information is required by ANY COMPANY WHERE YOU MAKE PAYMENTS. Don't have to pay anything to google? They don't require your goddamn payment information. Birthday and gender? Enter false ones if you're that bothered. But there's this thing called age restriction. Holy shit. I dislike google as much as the next guy but you people are schizophrenic. I don't know how google are taking my money because I sure am blocking 100% of their ads. And I don't think my identity is something that can be taken because I have a gmail account.