digital ethics

Five reasons why I deleted my Facebook account

Per Axbom

Per Axbom

Five reasons why I deleted my Facebook account

Here are the most clear-cut reasons I deleted my Facebook account. These Facebook practices triggered ethical considerations that helped decide on a path forward that would bring me, personally, more well-being.

  1. Systematically using methods to encourage addictive behavior .
  2. Allowing verbal abuse and sexual harassment on its platform under the guise of ‘free speech’, effectively silencing many voices.
  3. Generally using dark patterns to coerce people to disclose more data about themselves.
  4. Collecting extensive amounts of deeply personal data for the benefit of their customers, the advertisers who can target vulnerable users with concerning precision. For example: Facebook told advertisers it can identify teens feeling ‘insecure’ and ‘worthless’. Their use of the data is furthermore often reckless, such as when Facebook recommended that this psychiatrist’s patients friend each other.
  5. Not assuming responsibility for — and providing no transparency around — the many content moderators hired to police their platforms and spend their working days watching severe violence against animals and humans, including murder and bestiality.

Alas, based on my own values and insights I want to feel better about what platforms and services I support by using them. There are many companies with unethical practices, but in the end the insights brought to light about Facebook crossed the line for what I am willing to accept too many times. In accordance with my own messaging around digital compassion it finally became impossible to motivate why I had an account.

Best thing is that well over a month since I deactivated the account (I have since deleted it) I did not miss it for a second.

I will not judge people who stay on the platform. We all make choices about what makes us feel better or worse. In my case I do a great deal of introspection and the only path forward for me became very clear. I encourage everyone to figure out their own values and goals, care about their own well-being as well as the well-being of others, and choose their own path.

The most common reason I hear people stay with the service is for the groups, and fear of missing out. If that’s the case for you, you may want to have a look at some Ethical alternatives and resources for messaging and collaboration.

Always remember, though, that what we want doesn’t always make us happy.

I’ll end with a list of reference links for anyone who wants more detail on what I am referring to above.

1) On encouraging addictive behavior

“It’s a social-validation feedback loop … exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you’re exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology. The inventors, creators – me, Mark [Zuckerberg], Kevin Systrom on Instagram, all of these people – understood this consciously. And we did it anyway.”

2) Free speech abuse

“A world in which no one’s voice was silenced but the public square was flooded with hate and disinformation would not represent a triumph of free speech.”

3) Dark patterns

“Dark UX patterns help companies maximize profits, but at the expense of the most vulnerable, and by damaging the web for everyone.”

4) Privacy and targeting

“Behind the Facebook profile you’ve built for yourself is another one, a shadow profile, built from the inboxes and smartphones of other Facebook users.”

5) The Facebook moderator experience

“The panic attacks started after Chloe watched a man die. She spent the past three and a half weeks in training, trying to harden herself against the daily onslaught of disturbing posts: the hate speech, the violent attacks, the graphic pornography.”

Finally, here’s a video on how to export and download all your Facebook data.

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