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To me lure specifically implies that you are just offering something desirable as bait in order to trap someone and do harm to them. Evil witches in the forest use gingerbread houses to lure children in and eat them. Pedophiles lure children into vans with candy. You use a fishing lure to catch fish.

Now, there’s certainly a case that Facebook’s products are harmful, but is it Facebook’s intent to harm people? I don’t personally think so, but others may disagree. “Lure” is the type of language you use if you want to equate Facebook with pedophiles and fairytale villains in your readers’ minds.



> you are just offering something desirable as bait in order to trap someone and do harm to them

Offering something desirable (a product that people want to use) - check

To trap someone (can't move to another platform, all your friends and data are in a walled garden) - check

And do harm to them (use data to target further manipulation/advertising) - check

(And that's not even considering the more psychological harms of Facebook, which they may not intend but they certainly know about, have enflamed, and have done nothing to combat)


> but is it Facebook’s intent to harm people?

For the purposes of this discussion, is it really different from knowing that their products are harmful and still making sure as many people as possible use them?


> Now, there’s certainly a case that Facebook’s products are harmful, but is it Facebook’s intent to harm people?

Facebook aims to maximize engagement. Engagement is maximized by showing content that makes people angry and scared. [0] Is it harmful to make people scared and angry to maximize the amount of ads that pass their eyeballs? I know Facebook has internal research that shows them how Facebook affects people mentally (not great!), so ignorance isn’t a defense for them here.

[0] This is a WaPo article reposted on MSN, no paywall bypass needed https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/five-points-for-an...




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