Facebook: what happens when you run a social platform without rules
Instagram has sent a cease and desist letter to “trusted partner” HYP3R, a geomarketing company that makes a living by scraping vast amounts of data from users’ publications on the social network and then selling it on.
The company, which captured $17 million in investment at the end of last year and was the recipient of a Fast Company innovation award, claims not to have violated any platform rules, and has announced it will meet with Facebook next week to discuss the matter. Its reaction is not surprising: the video on its website pretty much says it all. Facebook says it’s surprised to learn what HYP3R gets up to, which is surprising: there are life forms living off the grid on the Andromeda Galaxy who know what HYP3R gets up to on Instagram. But nobody on Facebook, of course, bothered to look into it. Why would the people running the largest user information platform around the world worry about what happens on it?
We’ve been here before, with Cambridge Analytica and a whole bunch of less publicized scandals: a platform does what it likes with its users’ data, breaking every rule and creates a vast, profitable ecosystem pretty much open to anybody who’s interested or prepared to pay.
If you are an Instagram user, you have to accept that the geolocation information of your…
