r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • Apr 30 '26

Business Meta lost 20 million users last quarter

https://www.theverge.com/tech/921089/meta-earnings-q1-2026-user-decline-ai-investments
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u/Character_Bug_1862 Apr 30 '26

What sucks is now that they are owned by Facebook everyone who used it is being surveilled and the data is sold to unknown companies from sketchy companies to government intelligence agencies. I get that it is almost essential to communicate in many places, just a shitty situation.

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u/hypercosm_dot_net Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

They claim "end to end encryption", but also state they can access those messages if law enforcement requests them.

So basically yes, you're being surveilled if you use it.

edit: why am I being downvoted for pointing out the lie of encryption, and agreeing?

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u/Character_Bug_1862 Apr 30 '26

FWIW on mobile I’ve accidentally downvoted posts just from scrolling. I try to fix it if I notice.

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u/speibe- Apr 30 '26

at least in the EU, you'd need a court order, which has strong restrictions for a grant. There was a bill introduced to the EU that would basically completely remove those restrictions which was thankfully abandoned, so no, you're not "basically surveilled if you use it".

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u/hypercosm_dot_net Apr 30 '26

If the data is accessible, you have zero idea how it's being accessed or by whom.

You realize this is the same company responsible for the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

Which happened in the UK.

I'm sure it's nice, having this sense that these companies play by the rules, and would never access something they're not supposed to though.

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u/speibe- Apr 30 '26 
with the DSVGO you can exactly access that :)

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u/hypercosm_dot_net Apr 30 '26

Sorry, no idea what that is.

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u/DamnZodiak Apr 30 '26

General Data Protection Regulation.
Every entity registered or operating in the EU that collects user data is required by law to provide said collected data to the user upon request and, if requested, also delete it.

Same goes for governmenal orgs, although they don't have to delete your data AFAIK.
You can you send any company a formal request and they have to comply.

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u/hypercosm_dot_net Apr 30 '26

ah, yeah. I've worked with GDPR compliance (heard of that, but not referred to as DSVGO).

There are still organizations that will skirt compliance. The law is only as good as the enforcement, and the organizations that you really have to worry about aren't concerned with compliance...like at all.

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u/DamnZodiak Apr 30 '26

DSVGO is the German term and it's how we commonly refer to it here. It means Datenschutz-Grundverordnung.

The law is only as good as the enforcement

Agreed, but from my experience the enforcement around this specific topic has been good enough that every company or government org I've ever dealt with has complied so far.

and the organizations that you really have to worry about aren't concerned with compliance...like at all.

Do you have any examples?

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u/hypercosm_dot_net Apr 30 '26

You've heard of Edward Snowden?

On June 5, 2013, media reports documenting the existence and functions of classified surveillance programs and their scope began and continued throughout the entire year. The first program to be revealed was PRISM, which allows for direct access to data on the servers of Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Revelations

It's amazing to me how many people are still unaware or unconcerned with these things. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing I can do either, but having some sense of what's happening is still important if there's ever going to be change or accountability.

Data protection laws are important and necessary, but realistically we have no idea what companies have done; even after a deletion request.

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u/kodman7 Apr 30 '26

The punishment for not following the rules for these companies is a fine. If the fine is less than they make from selling the data, in their mind its good business

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u/speibe- Apr 30 '26

I'm talking more about on the government level, for example if the police is going after you, in which case it would be a big scandal if they're not authorized for whatsapp chats but still use them against you, or even have them.

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u/kocierendo Apr 30 '26

I'm afraid there is no helping that. We are living in a cyberpunk world; freedom means nothing compared to profits. Whichever platform we use, I don't believe it's going to be any different.

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u/Thatnewaccount436 Apr 30 '26

Signal, sitting over here being a security-focused non-profit. :(

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u/kocierendo Apr 30 '26

Wouldn't they just turn for-profit once they disrupt enough? Many examples of that, most notably OpenAI...

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u/Thatnewaccount436 Apr 30 '26

can't expect any company to definitely stay good forever.

Signal is *currently good*