Would I take a job at Facebook?
If you asked freshman Krishnan this question, he would run away. Part of me has always felt guilty for thinking about taking a job at Facebook. The company (along with other tech giants) has contributed to the displacement of countless many families in the Bay Area will very little remorse, making it nearly impossible to live here. Furthermore, after diving into the treatment of Facebook employees tasked with content moderation, I began to lose a lot of respect for the company. These content moderators are paid minuscule amounts to see traumatizing content with minimal breaks and an extreme lack of resources for mental health. If I worked at Facebook, this would very likely not be my experience. I would likely be enjoying Facebook’s playground of a campus, the free food/napping areas, and be compensated significantly more than my parents make via salary and benefits. But can I truly support a company that exploits others even if it enhances my life personally?
After pondering this question for the past four years, my mind has slowly begun to change. I’ve learned that I do have to balance my priorities and obligations. If I want to have a family, Facebook will very likely provide me a job that will allow me to financially support them. As a result, i think my acceptance of the job would largely revolve around my distance to the unethical actions, as explained in the reading. If Facebook wanted me to partake in a project that directly conflicted with my own ethical values, I wouldn’t be able to accept the position. The one caveat to this would be if I had the opportunity to help make the project more ethical. However, I question whether my word would have very little impact on the direction of large projects.
Another factor that would contribute to my decision of being an employee at Facebook is if I’m willing to be a whistleblower. People like Timnit Gebru and Frances Haugen saw the unethical trends in their companies and used their voices to expose the companies to the public. They knew they would likely be fired, but they saw their own values as a higher priority than their job. I think I would be confident blowing the whistle had I been in their shoes. Personally, i believe that I would feel comfortable being a whistleblower if I was involved in a very unethical project and felt that I couldn’t make change within. If Facebook doesn’t want to change and improve, then the public should know the truth of the company they are constantly influenced by and interacting with. I know when I can draw a line and know when Facebook has crossed it. So I would accept a job at the end of the day…if it was my “best option”.
