Having watched many of my friends graduate and begin working boring, underpaid, overworked, unfulfilling jobs, I have seen how difficult it is to find a job that is enjoyable to do (at least right out of college). So, if I was offered a job at Facebook that was fulfilling/interesting and paid alright, I probably would accept it. Whether or not all of its business practices are ethical, Facebook is clearly an important and influential company, and it needs intelligent people working on its problems. Perhaps, as “Working for Ethically Complicated Organizations” notes, trying to change Facebook from the inside is like trying to stop L’Oreal from testing on animals from the inside, however, I truly believe it would be worth a try.
In many countries, like Myanmar, Facebook is the primary way people access the Internet, and Facebook has exacerbated ethnic tensions and violence. In the past Facebook struggled when it did not understand the political situations (and often even the languages) of countries it was harming. In general (at least I’d like to believe) Facebook did not set out to worsen genocides. It needs people who care about international politics and human rights to ensure situations like Facebook’s role in the ethnic violence in Myanmar do not happen again.
So, in conclusion, would I accept a job at Facebook working on making some small feature like an emoji or button better? No. But, would I accept a job at Facebook that I believed would be fulfilling and helping to improve the company? Yeah, probably. It seems to be really hard to find an interesting, well-paid job, fulfilling job, and a job at Facebook working to improve its human rights record sounds interesting, fulfilling, and well-paid to me.
