The Facebook Meme Controversy
It is not uncommon for different types of memes to go viral on social media websites like Twitter and Facebook. The 10-year challenge is the latest of such memes. Many users have started contrasting pictures of themselves. To the users, it seems like the idea is to have a laugh at some of the questionable fashion choices that they may have indulged in while they were 10 years younger.
However, critics have been claiming that there is a far more sinister reason that Facebook has started this challenge. According to many critics, the real reason that Facebook has started this challenge is to harvest data in order to train its face recognition algorithm regarding the effect of ageing. Many users started taking offence about this claim. This is because they felt that they had been duped into giving their personal information since they did not know the true purpose behind the same. As a result, a huge controversy was created, and in the end, Facebook had to come out to defend itself.
In this article, we will have a closer look at some of the claims that were made by critics as well as the response that Facebook has given.
What Critics Believe About the 10 Year Meme Challenge?
Facebook Clarifications
These articles and posts about Facebook became so viral that Facebook itself had to come up with a clarification about these posts. According to Facebook spokesperson, the 10-year challenge is actually a user-generated meme, and Facebook has very little to do with the data that is being generated. Facebook has clarified that it was not aware of the existence of such a challenge and that it does not plan to use any of this data in order to train its algorithms. Critics believe that Facebook is abandoning its program mid-way because it is scared of all the bad press that it has been receiving lately.
Why Bad Press Matters?
It is true that Facebook does want to avoid bad press at all costs. This is because it has been involved in two major scandals wherein it has been proven that Facebook has been harvesting user data and using it for sinister reasons. If another instance of misuse of data is proven, Facebook may have just created enough pain for thousands of its users to switch to another social media platform.
The Conclusion
The bottom line is that many so-called innocent memes on the internet are actually a ploy to harvest user data. Many companies have been using this shady technique and getting away with it. However, with the rise of consumer activism, users have become aware and getting away with such misuse of data is no longer possible.
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