this post was submitted on 12 May 2026
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Oh you work for Zuckerberg? Fuck you.
I wonder how many of those people have a choice. The job market might not afford people with their credentials many options for decent enough pay to sustain a dignified livelihood.
Some may be callous, some may actively think that what the company is doing is good and right, but I don't think generalising such sentiments over all employees is fair. The system is fucked; don't blame the victims.
(Of course, you'd need a kind of social safety net to catch the employees if you want to dismantle the company. Just destroying the old without preparing the new would be counterproductive.)
i don't, for one second, buy the "i work for facebook because i had no other choice" argument
there are a lot of tech companies
There’s almost no hiring in the software industry compared to some years ago. Applications per role are waaaaay up. Lots of unemployment. Leaving whatever job you’re in might not be so simple when there’s people who depend on you, some of them likely your own children.
getting kids addicted to IG in order to feed my kids
LOL
I don't know the job market where these people are at, or whether the "lot of tech companies" were in their general vicinity (and with the "Return To Office" craze, fully remote work is no longer a certain possibility). I also don't know whether they applied elsewhere and were rejected. Maybe the "lot of tech companies" includes a lot of the type of "high demands for little pay" environments we occasionally see memes about. And particularly right now with companies working to cull their workforce out of misplaced faith in AI, the prospects for finding a new job become shaky.
Yeah, sure, many might be there because the money is good or whatever. They might stay, even if there are alternatives, even if they paid comparably, because change is scary and they worry that whatever company they jump ship for might sink and leave them desperate for a job again. Possibly out of healthcare too.
In any case, I'm fairly certain that the motivations for working there aren't all as simple as "I think what they're doing is good". When the system is rigged to fuck over workers, I'm inclined to think that many, indeed, have little other tenable choice. Find a way to help the people that want to leave do so safely, then go ahead and condemn the rest.
(I'm not working there myself, just not quite as trigger happy with blanket insults.)
the people you're defending are working for a corporation that deliberately hooks its users ( particularly kids ) into a fascist sympathizing skinner box in order to surveil them, harvest their PII, and sell it to whoever has the money for it
as the commenter said above: fuck them
I'm not defending those that have a choice. I'm pointing out the nuance that some may not have a choice and attempting to direct the rage at the factors than enable that corporation to do all this shit.
The system, particularly (but not exclusively) in the US, is corrupt to the core. Fuck the system, fuck Meta, fuck Zuckerberg and fuck anyone who willingly supports that fuckery. Fuck Palantir too, while we're at it, and all the other predatory, inhumane tech giants.
Maybe 15 years ago that was true. Now, fuck them, they know what they are working for. If they want redemption they can quit and join open source communities.
How much do those pay? Enough for rent and groceries? Send your kids to college maybe?
Choice is a luxury not everyone can afford, and the job market is fucked up in some places, particularly with things like dependency on your employer for healthcare and stability concerns. Yes, the cage may be gilded, but I doubt that it's empty.
Attack the system that binds them. Build a socisl safety net that they can trust to catch them and see to their necessities*. Make it a purely binary choice between excess and morality. Whoever continues to sell their soul can burn with the rest of the company.
*The catch with many unemployment benefit systems is that they only fully apply if you are fired without fault, not if you quit, unless you can prove specific circumstances such as health issues or workplace toxicity, which can be quite a hurdle. Whatever safety we offer has to lower the barrier for those circumstances and permit ethical concerns as justified reason to leave.
Yes that’ll feed the kids!
These jobs are some of the most high paying in the country, these people aren't starving, they are upper middle class/swells to start with overwhelmingly, not broke, and millionaires.
Goodness that’s a lot of conclusions about other people, all at once.
Those are well known statistics. Microsoft for instance created more millionaires from workers than any company ever. Their employees, the software engineers and the like, are in high demand and make a lot a lot of money.
Is your argument that they deserve the pay so it doesn't matter how they get it? They are selfish, and likely over extend themselves financially for ego and status. Apparently you are saying the only way they can be happy is if they are wealthy? What a morally bankrupt philosophy.
The fuck are you getting that from? I didn't talk about wealth, nor happiness, nor ego and status, nor how any of those things justify working for a horrifyingly evil company.
I talked about a dignified livelihood. You know, being able to pay rent, utilities, groceries, gas and put a little aside so medical emergencies or unexpected expenses don't trap you in irrecoverable debt.
Is your argument "People should rather starve"? Is the only ethical existence one outside of exploitative, fucked up systems?
I'm sure that many are indeed there because of the money. My argument is that condemning the employees wholesale is likely to catch people that don't deserve this vilification. My suggestion is to direct that rage against the fucked-up system that both enables exploitative dependencies on employment and allows companies like Meta to exist in the first place.
You think the choices are work for Meta or starve? Its Raytheon or be homeless?
Fuck out of here with that nonsense. If you trade morals for money, dont be surprised when people call you out as morally bankrupt. Isn't that the trade that was made? Grow up and own your shit.
To the same degree that a livelihood equals wealth: Not really, but it seems like nuance is out of stock anyway. If we can only talk in absolutes, then sure, let's go with that.
I don't know the job situation wherever these employees live. You take for granted that there are plenty of jobs available, but given the current tide of layoffs and hiring stops, I'm not so confident.
I know people (my wife, some family, some close friends; some EU, some US; some tech, some other sectors) struggling to find a job, for all their credentials, because all their applications to just about any vaguely applicable position within the area they can reach are rejected (and for some of them, there are few positions to begin with). If they got a job anywhere that would pay them a living wage, they could hardly afford to turn it down.
It's even worse in the US, where healthcare may be tied to your employer. One (western US) friend with chronic health issues had to stick with a toxic job for way too long because they genuinely couldn't afford to quit. Hence, my point is that there's a very real chance that some employees are trapped in their job, however gilded the cage may be.
Many employees may have the luxury of choice and choose money over morals, true. For some, the choice may have been a question of stability. If there was a reliable social security system to catch anyone that quits, I'd even agree that they all had the choice.
But as things are, I worry that painting all employees the same brush erases nuance and covers up the ugly systemic issues that enable the exploitation of users and employees alike, which we justly hate Meta for.
But then, I guess nuanced looks at contributing factors are hard and calling people morally bankrupt is more satisfying than acknowledging the morally expensive system that bankrupts people in the first place, morally and financially.
There is nuance, but some companies are far past that. Meta is one of them. Theres a bunch of other examples. I dont think walmart employees are morally bankrupt, however, because the Walton's are. There has to be a line somewhere and some companies have caused too much harm on too large a scale.
The nuance isn't about the fucked-upness of the company, but about the humans. The company is beyond redemption, no doubt.
Why? Why should we decide a point at which it's okay to dehumanise people? What do we gain by simplifying economic and social complexities down to "they're all just evil"?
Again, I care about fixing the system that allows things like Meta to exist (because cutting one head won't kill the hydra) and trap employees (Meta and elsewhere) in fucked up dynamics where "just leave" isn't a viable option.
If your necessities are taken care of either way and the choice is purely between excess wealth and ethical responsibility, sure, anyone who chooses to enrich themselves at the expense of others is a dick. If the company is torn down and they lose their job, no tear will be shed. But that basic security needs to exist in order to enable ethical decisions and put the onus on the employees for continuing to support a fucked up stain on human dignity.
Well evil is a ridiculous word, but yes they are immoral people the way I see it. That doesn't mean I want them executed or put in prison. We should simply call something wrong when we think its wrong. Those people are hopefully going to grow and learn. I'm not going to give them praise or any social benefit until they do so, however.
All I'm doing is signalling that I disagree with those peoples life choices on a moral level. I don't see why that's such a cruel thing.
My point is that not all may have a choice, because quitting your job can be scary in the most stable of times, let alone when people are being laid off left and right while small businesses get churned under. "I want to afford life" is a life choice only in the immediate, literal sense of choosing to live.
Hence my proposition to build a system that allows them to quit without jeopardising healthcare coverage, livelihood, all the things that make a person stick with a bad job.
Whoever stays when they don't need to is definitely in the wrong.
The working class needs jobs. Capitalists own the means of production; these means require the workers. Are you arguing that some capitalists are good/bad? They all ravage the world and exploit labor as the capitalist system requires.