22 Comments

Meta is not involved in a "dispute". They simply withdrew themselves from a terrible piece of legislation and stepped aside. I barely even see Meta bother to defend their position. They just said no. Its our children leadership that is in a dispute...

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Sep 8, 2023Liked by Line Editor

The algorithms are working over time though. Wow. I like hockey, CFL and Land Rovers, but I had no idea how many groups were on the system until now. I find the Marketplace to be of great use as well. Selling and buying cars, hockey equipment and giving away toilets....

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Could not agree more.

Star trek, Babylon 5, Witcher, Star Wars.. All the memes. WSB degen posts. Watch pictures

As well after the stupid reddit decision to stop 3rd party apps FB is my go to for niche fandoms

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So you aren't really thanking Trudeau sincerely, and in a nice way. You're simply enjoying an unexpected and unintended consequence of his government's arrogance and overreach. This is a 'silver lining' story. ;-)

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I guess I am one of the boomers that still like Facebook even after my grown children have moved on to IG and I don't know what else. I did have to remove myself from some very toxic "opinion" groups as well as any news pages (before they were removed). I actually do enjoy other people's kids, pets, and vacation photos... works for me, as does Marketplace and the entertaining Reels.

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Wow, what an old lady comment - ha! Don't worry, I'm reasonably net-savvy and aware. I even bought a subscription to this newsletter (and others) to keep me apprised of the real world! Thanks, Matt and Jen!

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i find it funny how many canadians still using FB. my friends from my birth country have all moved on to Instagram (with the younger generation Tiktok).

apart from messenger, I liked FB's functionality of groups (which work as a forum like thing), and events (which you can invite specific friends, give updates, etc), and marketplace. none of these features are in IG, but somehow it's more popular.

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founding

I’ve never been on FB, nor its semi-pro twin Linked-in (I figured early they’d only be a way for folks to find me to do free work for them, email is bad enough lol). But I am an InstaGram fiend -- what started as a simple way to share travel and ship pics with family turned into a meeting place for folks with similar interests around the globe. I’ve never been bothered with news (didn’t know they carried it) and the crypto forex traders are easy to block.

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You haven't had any fights with crazed Star Trek fans yet? I've learned not to criticize Discovery (or to do so and enjoy the freak out).

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author

I'm not THAT reckless.

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Never mess with people who have phasers.

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Meta just decided that news wasn't in their Canadian business plans anymore. It's a listed company that owns significant online real estate, and they are exercising their property rights.

Too bad the Canadian chattering classes and government are too entitled to understand that. They've gotten dumb and slow with all the cultural "protections" in Canada.

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As fa as C-16 goes, I don't give a shite. I never logged on to Facebook for news. i belong to several group sites and use marketplace a lot. I try to avoid all the clickbait posts and come ons from robot women trying to be my friend so they can get me into NFTs or some other scam.

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I hate Meta. It’s a place for family and close friends and silly memes nothing more. I’m happier now that I deleted it from my phone. Why would anyone consider Meta a news source? That’s a bit silly.

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Great article. Interesting observation. I wonder if you posted it on Facebook if it would be prohibited by Facebook as “news.”

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founding

LOL , strange but true :) Good article

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I agree completely - well almost completely because some of my Facebook friends who also happen to be unselfconsciously 'woke' are still managing to post some of that madness - maybe Meta doesn't see that as news?

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Great article Matt. Totally concur. Loving the Star Trek memes!

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This highlights the fact that users aren't customers for social media companies -- we're just data generators for targeting ads and reselling. They don't care how good (or bad) the experience is as long as the usage stats are positive.

Smart regulation would empower users, regulate how data giants use data, regulate transparency on things like advertising and recommended content, and make it a LOT easier for users to seamlessly shift to competitive platforms (which would encourage competition). But that isn't what the current regs seek to do, unfortunately.

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I see the editors just cannot help themselves from their media navel gazing. I get that the fact you make your living from media makes it of Supreme importance to you, but the rest of us, not so much. It would be good to read occasionally, about the Prime Minister's other shortcomings and accomplishments. The environment. The market. The housing issue. The opposition leader's plan for prosperity. Pick something. If you continue to rant about media (which you claim to be done ranting about) I will struggle to cough up my next subscription.

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author

Gosh maybe we SHOULD write about politics sometime here at The Line.

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Yeesh Glen... I'm pretty sure this was the FIRST post not related to politics (or at least only loosely tied) that I've read here on The Line. It also has a pretty upbeat and life-is-good sort of vibe, in general, as compared to the doom-and-gloom theme of much of the C18 coverage here (Line Editors have admitted the latter theme themselves, so that not an insult/complaint from me).

You've also played out some pretty great comedy by chirping here in the Substack comments -- while the very article you're commenting on remarks how much nicer the author's world has become by reducing/diluting opportunities for comments like yours to be lobbed across the interwebs. Now THAT'S Meta! Thanks for the laugh.

Perhaps set your phasers to stun, or switch to decaf... or both.

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