'We are not people to Mark Zuckerberg, we are the product' rages Ohio's Attorney General in Facebook lawsuit

Facebook was sued by Ohio’s Attorney General Dave Yost on Tuesday for allegedly deceiving shareholders about the potential harm its social media platform inflicted on young users. The complaint [PDF] was filed on behalf of the state’s largest pension fund, Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, and all other investors that …

[jake]

"we are the product"

Who is "we", Kemosabe?

Some of us saw this right from the git-go, and so never used Facebook to begin with. In fact, we have been telling the rest of you this for over a decade and a half. It's about time you noticed ... but why were you so slow on the uptake? Are you fit for your job as advisor to the Government of Ohio, Mr. Yost?

[Mark 85]

Re: "we are the product"

I think the Yost (along with many others) finally saw the light and had a "No S*** Sherlock" moment. And.. politics since we're starting to come into silly season for elected official types for next years elections. <sigh>

[big_D]

Re: "we are the product"

And you've blacklisted all Facebook domains at the DNS level, so your smartphone, tablet, PC etc. can't be tracked by Facebook as you surf the web?

(I have, BTW, over 2,500 domains last time I looked.)

[Anonymous Coward]

I am having trouble understanding how suing to reward the investors for Facebook's amoral pursuit of excess profits for benefit of said shareholders, can be considered a , well, WTF is it?

Now stripping the shareholders of 75% of profit made by the shares because they have been complicit...

[Falmari]

Ohio’s Attorney General filed!

@AC I am having trouble understanding why Ohio’s Attorney General filed the complaint.

From what I can see OPERS is not run by the state, it is a private company. So who is paying for the AG's time his costs and that of the Ohio Attorney General's office?

The State and therefore the tax payers of Ohio?

Should not the shareholders of Facebook which include OPERS be the ones to file and fund the complaint?

I am from the UK and maybe things are different in the US but if I had shares that lost value I can't see my government suing on my behalf.

[Chris G]

Re: Ohio’s Attorney General filed!

The AG is acting on behalf of the state's pensions investment fund and including other investors to give class action weight.

Though I do notice that the people who are most likely to sue FB or any other company for bad behaviour are investors worried about potential losses rather than being troubled by moral outrage from having invested in an amoral/immoral company.

[Falmari]

Re: Ohio’s Attorney General filed!

@Chris G "The AG is acting on behalf of the state's pensions investment fund and including other investors to give class action weight."

I see what you are saying +1, but is that the case. From what I can see OPERS is a private company which from the looks of it is owned by another company. Too me it looks like the AG is acting on behalf of that company.

BTW Chris G I did do a little checking on the internet before I made my first post.

[Chris G]

Re: Ohio’s Attorney General filed!

@ Falmari

I only read the article but looking up OPERS shows it is a trust set up to provide pensions etc for Ohio state employees so although I don't see anything dodgy about the AG prosecuting FB on their behalf, you are right, the trust is independant of the state.

[Al fazed]

Re: Ohio’s Attorney General filed!

They put their monies on the devil's horse then complain when it didn't run true.

Gamblers gambling..............you win some, you lose some, they win the most, somebody somewhere lost a shirt........

YAWN.........

ALF

[Winkypop]

Cult like

Once you consume the kool aid there’s little chance of coming back.

[Potemkine!]

To Facebook investors: you are not the victims. You are part of the problem. You should be in the dock with Zuckerberg and his minions.

[Al fazed]

Agree

Total agreement, these rich and wanna get richer twats are the fuckers behind most of the IT shite we have in 2021.

So much for Sir Tim's idea of IT levelling the playing field ...............

ALF

[Pseu Donyme]

The Way of the Megacorp

"We are not people to Mark Zuckerberg, we are the product and we are being used against each other out of greed."

Unfortunately it looks like this is the essence of the de-facto American way these days; problem is that the two are deeply intertwined.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The Way of the Megacorp

Yup. And sadly, the primary goal of a lot of IT companies in Canada now is to "get big enough to be bought out by Amazon/Google/... south of the border."

So many don't even have a PLAN to succeed as a company; their plan is to get bought out!

Money, money, money - for the investors. The staff, the workers, etc. who made it all happen - not so much.

[WanderingHaggis]

Corporate failure

As shareholders they should be holding the company to account -- though if I remember correctly the main shareholder is Zuk himself so so much for that. Sue them for lying and mistreating their product (sorry users)fair enough, charge them with negligence and endangerment yes and the shareholders for not sorting out the company they own definitely; but for lost profit when you have not held the MD accountable sorry no. Shareholders may not do the day to day but they set the direction and hold accountability rôles.

[Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse]

A Meta spokesperson...

Seeing as this "Meta" spokesperson works for Farcebork, presumably it only came with a minimal set of attributes that describes its capabilities as a human being.

[Al fazed]

Re: A Meta spokesperson...

was it really a spokes person or just some more AI shite ?

ALF

[David Lewis 2]

In other news….

Bear turds found in woods. More at 11.

[ecofeco]

And this is news to who?

But he is still wrong.

We're all just modern serfs to the coporate. Master(bator)s of the Universe kings.

[Macs1000]

"....Nick Clegg were also listed as defendants"

Wow! If they find against the Dead Corporation will Cleggie be personally liable? Please, please, please!

[Pascal Monett]

I was thrilled to read those words

But then I read about how he was only acting on behalf of investors.

Why the hell did you invest in Facebook ?

What it is doing to children and vulnerable people is not new, but you only discovered it when you bought some shares ?

Is that hypocritical, or what ?

The lawsuit should be thrown out.

[Richard 12]

This is the USA

Money is the only thing really taken seriously.

The case alleges that Facebook hid information from shareholders that materially affected the value of those shares.

This is illegal for any publicly-traded company.

As evidence, they have shown that when this information became public, Facebook/Meta shares dropped hugely - indicating that many didn't want to hold shares in a company that knowingly did these things.

Thus Meta definitely have a case to answer.

[yetanotheraoc]

Re: I was thrilled to read those words

"you only discovered it when you bought some shares ?"

He only discovered it when the share price went down.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

“This suit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously,” a Meta spokesperson told The Register in a statement.

Those named in the writ could don Oculus headsets, immerse themselves in their alternative reality metaverse and "win" the court case.

[croc]

We are not really even the product. We are just the raw materials of the product. And if you can get your materials for free, then whatever you make and sell will be SSOOoo profitable... Then, if you can get the owner of the (free) raw materials to look at your product, you've got a perfect feedback lop of money making goodness.

[Anonymous South African Coward]

Proudly Fartbook free since 2012...

[Shalghar]

Never logged into Facepalmbook but sadly i cannot say they have nothing on me as some friends and relatives "like" to "share" photos with world, dog and his tapeworm.