It is clear that Facebook prioritizes profit over the well-being of children and all users.Francis Haugen - Facebook, Former Data Scientist & Facebook Papers Whistleblower
Many online platforms operate under a model known as surveillance capitalism - also known as people farming.
Every and any interaction with these services are continuously tracked and consolidated to build detailed digital profiles. These profiles often include not just basic demographics, but also insights into behavior like habits and hobbies, beliefs, mental and physical health and medical track records, financial situation, political views, sexual preferences and many more.
This data is monetized — often through targeted advertising — which forms the core revenue stream for most "free" services.
The general rule of thumb is*:
If you're not paying for the product, then you are the product.Tristan Harris - Google, Former Design Ethicist
To maximize engagement and profits, platform algorithms tend to amplify content that provokes strong emotions like anger or outrage. This creates a dynamic that is unethical at best and lethal at worst.
Despite its growing impact, this ecosystem remains largely unregulated and has been used to effectively fan violence, manipulate users and destabilize democracies while generating immense profits for platform operators.
We've created a system that biases towards false information. Not because we want to, but because false information makes the companies more money than the truth. The truth is boring.Sandy Parakilas - Facebook, Former Operations Manager
The various shapes of surveillance capitalism constitute a systemic issue that is largely prevalent on platforms such as Facebook**, Instagram and Twitter/X and Bluesky. It extends far into mainstream service providers such as Google and it's products Gmail, Calendar, YouTube and especially the Google Chrome browser as well as others such as as Snapchat, TikTok, Zoom, Discord, Twitch, Reddit and many more.
*Many of the now available alternatives are donations-based.
**The company Meta owns and operates Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
There is a whole array of companies profiteering off surveillance capitalism, but Meta has an outstanding record of routinely placing public-relations, profit, and regulatory concerns over user welfare.
Because Meta tolerated and profited from slave trade and human trafficking.
Because Meta fanned ethnic violence and destabilized democracies for profit, most recently in Myanmar and Ethiopia.
Because Meta facilitated Brexit by spreading misinformation, made a fortune and filed lawsuits to cover it up.
Because Meta is lobbying against privacy laws, globally.
Because Meta gave exclusive access to private messages to large tech companies, device vendors, retailers, entertainment sites, automakers and media organizations.
Because Meta hired climate change deniers as fact-checkers.
Because Meta manipulates emotions targeting specific user groups.
Because Meta covertly paid 13 year olds to install spy software on their devices.
Because Meta just pretends be transparent on which ads are shown to users.
Because Meta employees read private messages one by one to train Facebook’s artificial intelligence.
Because Meta stole 1.5 million people’s email contacts after asking them for their email passwords.
Because Meta took the phone numbers given to them for “security” reasons and used them for advertising.
Because Meta keeps all uploaded videos, even when they are "deleted" by users.
Because Meta fusing Instagram Facebook and Whatsapp was not about your privacy. It was about consolidating all the data they have on their users.
Because Meta updated an old press release with information that millions of passwords of instagram accounts had been compromised while the Mueller report was being released in order to avoid criticism and scrutiny.
Because Meta hired the author of the PATRIOT act, the most significant threats to civil liberties privacy and democratic traditions in US history as general counsel.
Because Meta employees say “F*ck ethics - money is everything”.
Because, like most major US technology companies, Facebook avoids paying taxes with company constructs in Ireland.
We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us...John M. Culkin, The Medium is the Message
There are a few things that you can do right away:
With millions of users, Mastodon is one of the most popular alternative social networks. Alternative to BlueSky and X.
Ad-free, open-source and privacy friendly photo sharing app with a chronological timeline, alternative to Instagram.
Misskey is an open source, decentralized social media platform.
A Facebook-style social network with no central ownership.
Facebook alternative based on the principles of decentralisation, freedom and privacy.
Federated social link aggregation and discussion platform, alternative to Reddit.
A decentraliced platform for uploading and sharing videos.
Owncast is a free and open source live video and web chat server for use with existing popular broadcasting software, similar to Twitch.
A social network for tracking your reading, talking about books, writing reviews, and discovering what to read next.
A decentralised secure gossip platform. This one is for more tech-savvy users or for those who have friends that use it.
A self-hosted, no-programming required solution for presenting your music online.
A self-hosted, no-programming required solution for presenting your videos online.
Open-source text, voice and video messaging app developed by a non-profit organization. Sustained entirely by grants and donations.
Open-source, secure video chat.
Open-source text, voice and video messaging.
Experimental peer-to-peer community chat platform.
An open standard for online communication.
An open network for secure, decentralised communication.
A privacy focused online collaboration suite for documents, presentations and spreadsheets.
A non-tracking meeting scheduling tool.
An ethical alternative to Facebook events, groups and pages.
Simple, self-hosted group calendar.
A privacy focused search engine.
Google search results without the tracking.
Alternative frontends let you access the content of an ad-driven platforms without being tracked. These platforms frequently become unstable as they are developed by small, open-source communities and are attacked by platform holders for circumventing their business model.
YouTube content without the tracking.
For more entertaining and enlightening elaborations of surveillance capitalism.
A documentary examining how social media's design nurtures addiction to maximize profit, and its ability to manipulate people's views, emotions, and behavior and spread conspiracy theories and disinformation.
A website by the german comedian and journalist Jan Böhmermann in lieu of the ZDF Magazin Royal Facebook feature.
Investigative journalist Carol Cadwalladr decries the rise of the broligarchy in this searing TED talk.
A comic by Scott McCloud detailing how the Google Chrome browser became a threat to privacy and democracy.
A small guide with resources and assets on how to delete Meta.
A german interview with the Signal Messenger president in the Austrian newspaper Falter.
This website is an updated, static version of the now-defunct www.stopusingfacebook.co
The source can be found at https://git.sr.ht/~rostiger/stopUsingFacebook
The contents of this page are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
If you find any broken links, errors or would like to add a listing, please get in touch on Mastodon.
Page created on 2022-02-07. Last edited on 2025-05-09.