“Would you accept a job at Facebook?”
Depending on the specific role and product, I would accept a job at Facebook after considering the ethnical dilemmas involved with the company and weighing the tradeoffs between my ethnical conflicts and personal gains. The main reasons I would accept a job at Facebook would be their competitive pay and benefits. When looking for a career, I want to prioritize providing a secure and stable financial future for myself and my family, especially in today’s uncertain economic climate. Additionally, Facebook’s compensation would allow me to comfortably enjoy interests outside work.
However, researching Facebook’s data privacy practices allowed me to understand the extensive collection of personal information, lack of transparency, and frequent data breaches which puts its users at risk. Additionally, their monetization strategies, centered on targeted advertising and selling user insights, can manipulate and exploit users while prioritizing profit over welfare. But, as the reading suggests, it is virtually impossible to completely reject any job that is tied to any ethnical implications. I have even learned about ethical implications tied to companies I’ve interned at. I realize sometimes these issues are siloed into certain products or branches of the company and sometimes other divisions will try to completely ignore or disassociate themselves from these products. For instance, many employees at Boeing or Lockheed Martin may justify their position by explaining they are on the commercial side rather than the military side, despite contributing to the sustenance of the company as a whole.
Rather than try to ignore the ethical implications of company, I would try to assess whether my tasks or assignments directly relate to the implementation of features that heavily compromise my morals. For instance, if my task was to create extensive surveillance technologies or heavily contribute to misinformation campaigns, I wouldn’t feel comfortable in my role. At that point, I would try to work from within to try to facilitate a change in company practice, as suggested in the reading, or move to another company, knowing I have strong work experience on my resume.
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Mina Ky
