The title of this article speaks for itself. Facebook, because of the proliferation racist content, has not only become a racist cesspool like X.com (which I left a long time ago), the company's algorithm itself has become a fascist, content creator whipping, mechanized monster that rewards outrage over meaningful content. Once a content creator signs a contract with Meta Inc., they either do as the algorithm says or die.
Starting an external writing project has become an act of defiance against a corporate monstrosity that not only encourages content creators to use rage bait, but it then Facebook for Creators punishes creators like me, who are good at pissing people off, for doing exactly what is asked of us.
I've told people before that I don't care about guns, whether people have; it's a subject I just don't care about enough to have an opinion—even though I don't like them myself for my own reason. Yet, if I put up a post that expresses how much I hate guns, the algorithm picks it up, widely promotes it to gun nuts, and intentionally incites outrage, rather than showing the same content to people who agree with me. The latter would create meaningful fans and followers. The former only makes me an abuse victim.
Pissing off gun owners and being subject to thousands of angry hilljunkies who can't read is completely counterproductive to my goal of being a writer. Yet making those morons explode into tears is what pays the bills and keeps the Meta robot overlord happy, so I did what I had to do until I could make a better move.
The counter intuitiveness of the design of Facebook for Content Creators is that when one really rubs the outrage machine the right way, the angry mob starts hiding posts and flagging them. Once their feelings get hurt, they start flagging. Meta's failing moderation AI then notoriously can't detect subtle humor or satire, which is a really bad thing if you're a satirist like me. The content creator starts receiving account strikes, and the hidden posts send signals to the algorithm to reduce reach.
Facebook whips its creators into doing its rage bait bidding, via financial incentives, and then punishes the creator for doing exactly what they were asked to do. In my opinion, the issue is a massive product design flaw that, more than likely, Facebook is never going to acknowledge or fix.
As for the last straw:
Three days ago, I received a notice that I had violated the terms of use and was being punished; my profile's "recommended status" had been revoked, and I was being demonetized over a post that was deemed "hateful content" by a machine with the IQ of a Trump supporter. When I appealed the account strike, no human reviewed my content, and I was left with no income. That's just great. I do what I am asked to do and then I am punished by losing the only job I have.
What was my offense?
Jake Lang announced the (n-word) March in Minneapolis on August 22nd—because who doesn't want to go to a major city during the hottest month of the year and get beat up for screaming the n-word in public? Except in his flyer, he did not censor the n-word, a ridiculous word I don't want to think or see. My sarcastic response was to announce that I am holding a Honkey Cracker Jive Ass Sucka March, a completely satirical response, obviously.
Facebook flagged my post as hateful conduct, demonetized me, and removed me from the recommended profile program.
I get it. So, fighting back against hate using humor is hateful, but the uncensored n-word all over Facebook is not hateful, it's freedom of speech. The stupid racist white poors have taken over America and now they've taken over logic and common sense. That was when I'd had enough.
I've always had the ability to leave Facebook, but I wasn't much interested in turning my art into big business. I liked the creative and organic nature of sitting down, writing a post on Facebook, and having that as my distribution platform—it seemed modern and modestly escapist. I also wanted to keep my content free for all, and I was getting paid enough to maintain my van life lifestyle.
At this point, I realize that it's just time to move on and create meaningful readers and relationships. I need away from the rage bait and online abuse—it's making me feel controlled and the abuse is making me depressed. For the last few months, I have dreaded waking up and being forced to start typing on Facebook if I wanted to eat. All of this leads me to two words:
No more.
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Tl;dr: Fuck Facebook and the AI-driven horse they rode in on.