The least surprising news of 2021: Facebook voted the worst company in America

Posted:
in General Discussion edited December 2021
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has been named the worst company of 2021, with a survey declaring the controversial social network to be the most upsetting for a wide range of grievances.




In a survey of 1,541 people carried out in early December named many companies as the worst of 2021, but Meta was identified as the worst in the pile. The vote had Meta receiving 8% of the open-ended survey responses, 50% more votes than the second-place finisher, Chinese retailer Alibaba.

The survey, commissioned by Yahoo Finance, had recipients declaring many reasons for why Meta was the worst, with various controversies from the year resurfacing in the results.

The criticism included the major allegations from whistleblower Frances Haugen that Facebook chose "profit over safety" of its users, including setting algorithms to pursue engagement at the expense of enabling riots to occur. Antitrust concerns were also raised, which is already being looked into by lawmakers around the world.

The variety of complaints included claims of censorship of conservative voices on one side of the political aisle, while the other railed against the potentially dangerous spread of misinformation on its platforms. One response accused Meta of "undermining democracy worldwide."

Instagram's effects on mental health and targeting children were also raised as concerning incidents.

Of other big-name companies in the list, Alibaba was second, with investors citing a fifty-percent drop in value for the retailer. AT&T also caught flak for a 24% year-to-date loss.

Electric truck maker and 2020 survey winner Nikola was complained about for various issues, including an accusation from one respondent that it was a fraud. Tesla was complained about more for its products being rolled out "before they are ready," as well as reports about sexual harassment and a dislike of CEO Elon Musk.

Citadel Securities and share trading service Robinhood received nominations for their roles during the Gamestop Reddit investment incident.

On the other end of the scale, Yahoo Finance selected Microsoft as Company of the Year for 2021, for reaching a market capitalization milestone of $2 trillion, along with a 53% year-to-date surge in its stock price.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    You’re welcome, Comcast.
    edited December 2021 cornchipwatto_cobraMplsP
  • Reply 2 of 20
    Just seeing his face, let alone when he's trying to convey an actual personality or simulate an emotion, gives me an instant migraine!
    thtwhittonmwatto_cobradewme
  • Reply 3 of 20
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,112member
    Yes, and I’m sure Zuckerberg and his cronies are crying all the way to the bank. 
    Of course the blame is only half theirs, at most. The rest is on the sheep that continue to use it. 
    lkruppwhittonmMacsWithPenguinsbaconstangwatto_cobra12Strangersrundhviddewme
  • Reply 4 of 20
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member
    Microsoft is deemed No. 1, for briefly surpassing AAPL's market capitalization and quietly tracking users like a maniac, never mind the crap its cofounders have been doing.
    edited December 2021 williamlondonbloggerblogseanjwatto_cobracat52
  • Reply 5 of 20
    Happy holidays to you too.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 20
    jdwjdw Posts: 1,324member
    If true, most Americans are sadomasochists.

    The bigger problem isn't FaceBook.  It's Chronic Complaining.

    I say stop the complaining and simply stop using FaceBook (or any other free service) if you dislike it.  To continue using a free service for fun and then complain about it endlessly is evidence of a serious personal problem, not evidence of a FaceBook problem.

    Even more laughable is the fact that FaceBook users are such digital drug addicts that even Big Brother is trying to step in a protect those digital-drug users from their own addiction, treating FaceBook as if it is the bad guy.  The real bad guy is the one who has the addiction problem but refuses to admit it.


    williamlondonlkruppwhittonmMacsWithPenguinsstompybaconstanguraharageorgie01watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 20
    Facebook wants everyone to use its platform to connect with each other and share what is happening in their lives and discuss things with their family, friends and acquaintances. Unfortunately it is totally failing in that mission as it now censors any kind of discussion, fact based or otherwise if it happens to include certain key words like "virus". Let's say you post something recommending your friends get vaccinated and a link to a news story about the subject. Facebook will only allow a very small number of your friends to see that post (perhaps two or three). They must be people who have posted comments with the same keywords and who you have replied to recently. No one else will see your post even if you have a hundred friends. This is obviously Facebook's knee jerk reaction to government scrutiny for their responsibility for the large number of people refusing to be vaccinated and the many riots last year around the world created on their platform. Facebook would like it very much if everyone would stop talking about important subjects and just post pictures of kittens.
    edited December 2021 watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 20
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    fred1 said:
    Yes, and I’m sure Zuckerberg and his cronies are crying all the way to the bank. 
    Of course the blame is only half theirs, at most. The rest is on the sheep that continue to use it. 
    You win the internet today. You hit the nail squarely on the head.
    whittonmMacsWithPenguinsbaconstangwatto_cobraJaphey
  • Reply 9 of 20
    You can live without Facebook.  I dropped it 3 years ago and filled in the community social need with Reddit and did not miss the family pictures because I get enough updates by email.
    MacsWithPenguinsrotateleftbytegeorgie01AI_liaswatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 20
    I have never had a Facebook account in my whole life and will never sign up. For me it’s about not comparing my own life and achievements with others. Twitter works out for me, because I can follow strangers announcing trivial things on a daily or weekly basis, which for me is all about reading and discussing the latest trends in tech. If friends want to reach out, it’s not going to be on social media, but rather via private conversations or real-world meetings (except Covid complicated this).
    williamlondonbaconstangrotateleftbyteAI_liaswatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 20
    M68000M68000 Posts: 719member
    How many of those who voted will also delete Facebook from their life?   There are also other options out there…. How interesting it would be to see another company come out of nowhere and take major market share….  
    AI_liaswatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 20
    cpsro said:
    Microsoft is deemed No. 1, for briefly surpassing AAPL's market capitalization and quietly tracking users like a maniac, never mind the crap its cofounders have been doing.
    6 free tools that stop Windows 10 from spying on everything you do

    ... however if we wish to consider 'quietly' do the Apple CSAM revelations warrant consideration of a now annual (since 2011) 'os' seemingly increasingly reaching further with every release into all aspects of our digital lives ...?

    Will these pursuits (digital colonialism?) ultimately be defined as crimes against humanity...?
    edited December 2021 cat52
  • Reply 13 of 20
    Just seeing his face, let alone when he's trying to convey an actual personality or simulate an emotion, gives me an instant migraine!

    He is a human embodiment of the "Uncanny Valley".
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 20
    seanjseanj Posts: 318member
    Biggest issue with Facebook is that it is slow to react against people spreading anti-vaccine disinformation. This literally causes deaths due to people actually believing this nonsense.

    It shouldn’t be difficult to preemptively spot these either. A significant proportion of anti-vaxx lies is generated by the Internet Research Agency in St Petersburg, Russia, working for Putin.
    AI_liaswatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 20
    whittonm said:
    You can live without Facebook.  I dropped it 3 years ago and filled in the community social need with Reddit and did not miss the family pictures because I get enough updates by email.
    Hardest thing for me is that the HOA and all neighbors use Facebook groups to keep in touch. But I also quit it a few months ago. Second time I quit it in 2 years, hopefully it will take this time, I'm sure I'm done with it for good, and with any company owned by Meta.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 20
    seanj said:
    Biggest issue with Facebook is that it is slow to react against people spreading anti-vaccine disinformation. This literally causes deaths due to people actually believing this nonsense.

    It shouldn’t be difficult to preemptively spot these either. A significant proportion of anti-vaxx lies is generated by the Internet Research Agency in St Petersburg, Russia, working for Putin.
    Why is Facebook’s responsibility to ‘stop’ vaccine misinformation by moderating the discourse of mass quantities of people?

    Are you going to vote next to disallow vaccine misinformation from being texted? And then to disallow it from being spoken about in person in federal buildings? Etc. Etc.

    People like you don’t really understand what you’re saying. Our founders knew that we can’t always tell who is doing good, even ourselves. That’s the entire reason for separation of powers and free speech, and it is absolutely worth dying for. Don’t be short sighted, or else you will be serving the next ‘benevolent’ dictator willingly so that you can feel safe from the scary world. 

    Power must be diluted. Not given into the hands of a few ‘trustworthy’ people who more than likely are just good at lying. 
    edited December 2021 muthuk_vanalingamMicDorseyJapheystageofhistorywilliamlondon12Strangerscat52
  • Reply 17 of 20
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    Facebook wants everyone to use its platform to connect with each other and share what is happening in their lives and discuss things with their family, friends and acquaintances, so it can sell advertising.
    I corrected the first sentence for you. FB only exists for that one purpose. Everything else is a charade. Think about it. What else do they sell? The only thing that generates revenue is advertising sales.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 18 of 20
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    Aside from acting as a conduit and facilitator for foreign interference in our elections, the biggest damage facebook has done to our country and its democracy is to silo the people of this country into segregated parts and fed them propaganda that has been hand tailored to them.

    Jon Stewart addressed that in one of his episodes.  It wasn't directed at FaceBook per se but how media spoon feeds one sided stories to selected populations and thus radicalizes them.  So, at this point, truth is not rooted in reality but in whatever one has been told and believes.  "X" is good.  "Y" is bad.

    muthuk_vanalingamAI_lias
  • Reply 19 of 20
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    georgie01 said:
    seanj said:
    Biggest issue with Facebook is that it is slow to react against people spreading anti-vaccine disinformation. This literally causes deaths due to people actually believing this nonsense.

    It shouldn’t be difficult to preemptively spot these either. A significant proportion of anti-vaxx lies is generated by the Internet Research Agency in St Petersburg, Russia, working for Putin.
    ...
    Are you going to vote next to disallow vaccine misinformation from being texted? And then to disallow it from being spoken about in person in federal buildings? Etc. Etc.
    ...

    Excellent suggestion!
    That disinformation is not only undermining our democracy it's killing Americans like no war ever did -- particularly when it is spread to targeted audiences and never faces the light of reality.  So, in its isolated silo, disinformation becomes real -- and both democracy and people die.
    AI_lias
  • Reply 20 of 20
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,331member
    Misery loves company.
    That company is Meta.
    AI_liascat52
Sign In or Register to comment.