> Meta isn't some utility people can't live without.

This is not true for large parts of society.

There are many institutions which force you to communicate via facebook, so not having access to it means you're locked out of parts of your real life.

This is horribly wrong by those institutions, of course, but here we are. It should be illegal, but isn't yet.

Which institutions? if it affected “a large part of society”, I would imagine that I would be aware of it.

Schools tend to be worst offenders, clubs, companies (heard of at least one company which only honors warranty support via facebook!).

Ask them to use something else, or get an exception by explaining that you were banned. It isn’t endemic and there are always options. After the Cambridge analytica scandal, Facebook no longer has unbreakable mindshare. This is especially true the younger the generation

>Ask them to use something else, or get an exception by explaining that you were banned. It isn’t endemic and there are always options

Good luck if it's a business or public org. Why change their process for what amounts to a minority of customers? It's not worth the cost. Whether these people can't do business with them despite these services being essential to everyday life... well tough luck for them I guess?

Own example: in $COUNTRY almost all banks use either their app or Viber to send 2FA. I refuse to use Viber out of principle, and also their app refuses to work on phones that don't use Google services. Should I be locked out of my banking because of me refusing to support the practices of other, unrelated services that happen to be 'popular'? Note that there is no other way to get the codes - other banks may use SMS but that is expected to be sunset next year and they will switch to the same methods.

IMHO it's disingenuous to say that there are options, when most of the time there aren't any.

It’s not as endemic as you make it out to be or there would be a public outcry.

Banking and social media are also two very different industries. One is essential while the other is mainly bread and circus with a myriad of alternatives

> It’s not as endemic as you make it out to be or there would be a public outcry.

It's a matter of time. Even if it's not endemic in the US (which I severely doubt) it's endemic elsewhere. Don't underestimate the public's ability to put up with things, especially if they are mostly kept in the dark about the most sinister effects.

> Banking and social media are also two very different industries. One is essential while the other is mainly bread and circus with a myriad of alternatives

Both are essential. Social media is what you make of it. It can be bread and circus, yes, but it is also an invaluable tool for communication. Losing access to them can stifle your communication efforts by a lot. Why, you may ask? Because network effect is in full swing: "Phone call? Who still does that? Just use messenger like a normal person". No one's gonna bother to call you or SMS you cause 1) you're not on messenger or whatever app they use and 2) can't be bothered to contact you at your preferred non-app way, when the whole friend group has a group chat from which every single interaction and update is broadcasted to everyone. In the end, keeping you in the loop is too much work, and then you start missing out on outings etc. And even if you somehow persuaded all of your friends to use alternative methods of communication, 99.999% of the planet just can't be bothered, especially when they have friends that are reachable over 5-6 different apps, one on each friend.

Don't underestimate the network effect.

Facebook’s brand has been all but destroyed. The Quest 2 is prime evidence for that. It’s an amazing device at an amazing price that didn’t have as many adopters due to meta’s past reputation.

Social networks are not an essential service. There are other social networks and there are other forms of communication including SMS which is standard on all phones. If you’re not willing to pay for a better service like iMessage instead of an ad supported one, that is your problem

> It’s not as endemic as you make it out to be or there would be a public outcry.

There's no [significant] public outcry because most people use facebook or whichever latest popular thing.

Doesn't meta have an obligation to product users that do want to use their product? This is like saying people should be free to pee wherever they want, if you're worried about the smell, don't walk there.

Actually, the pee analogy fits better with your argument. You’re arguing that people can siphon electricity and use meta’s servers without paying (via ads).

As I’ve already mentioned, meta isn’t a utility that people can’t live without like a phone. If they don’t like it, they should use something else. There are many alternatives

Meta is worried about abuse because if 99.999999% of posts on Meta are spam, people stop using it.