> I don't think that's a helpful way to look at it. Facebook is a platform that other people use to change what people think, and that's dangerous enough.
I'm not sure there is a distinction. Intent doesn't matter. If your system is used by other people do X, then you are building a system that does X. The Purpose Of A System Is What It Does [1]. You can't just wipe your hands and say "hey it's just a platform, it's really other people doing this stuff!" Knowing what their system does, they wake up every day and with intent say "We are going to continue with this system".
I'm not washing my hands of anything. I'm not denying there is a problem. I'm trying to identify the nature of the problem, because that's important to finding solutions.
> Knowing what their system does, they wake up every day and with intent say "We are going to continue with this system".
No. They don't. Please don't pretend to read others' minds. There are a lot of people at Facebook who are trying to improve these things, but it's a very complex problem and a very complex system. There's lots of disagreement about what the solutions are, or even which direction represents improvement. And mindless bashing just doesn't help. If your only answer is that Facebook should die, then you might as well just be going "bla bla bla" because that doesn't move the needle at all.
You might notice I'm not bashing and haven't made a moral "should or shouldnt" argument. I'm simply saying that complex system is what it does, regardless of the intent of the people building it. You can't disentangle Facebook the platform from what its users use it for. It's all one system that does X. If Facebook the company is trying to change that X to something better, they should be supported.
Are you arguing that Facebook should be a website where people don't try to change each other's minds about things? It is absurd that on a website devoted exclusively to commenting on links there are people seriously arguing that people changing each other's minds via debate and links is dangerous.
No, I'm not saying should or shouldn't. I am narrowly pushing back on OP that what Facebook is cannot be disentangled from what its end users do. If we agree Facebook's users collectively do X, then we must agree that the purpose of Facebook The System is to do X. I'll let other people discuss whether that X is good or bad.
I'm not sure there is a distinction. Intent doesn't matter. If your system is used by other people do X, then you are building a system that does X. The Purpose Of A System Is What It Does [1]. You can't just wipe your hands and say "hey it's just a platform, it's really other people doing this stuff!" Knowing what their system does, they wake up every day and with intent say "We are going to continue with this system".
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_purpose_of_a_system_is_wha...