There are a number of grey areas within this question. Although Facebook itself is an enveloping entity- an average employee at Facebook is unlikely to have much of an impact in the company beyond your team’s network. This can be construed as a good or a bad thing- worse if your aim is to change the company on the inside, and a more positive outlook if you would like to minimize your ethical impact, and find that your team is working on something less significant in terms of shifting that meter. Thus, this question is more dependent on more specific details on what you will be working on and your role at the company, and how you want to approach this job if you do accept it.
There are also your personal circumstances to consider- your duty to yourself to ensure your stability, and to your family and people around you to take care of them. How much do you need a job here, and at what point do you consider yourself content and stable enough to consider greater moral actions to take? Again, these are personal decisions that weigh your ability and moral values against you and your network’s wellbeing.
Ultimately, as the reading succinctly points out- “how close does the stink get to my office?” The interconnectivity of the world means that no matter what you do, these ethical quandaries would be almost impossible to avoid. Thus, it is up to you to pick your battles- because you would not be able to live in a world where you cannot confront ethical dilemmas at all.
Due to these grey areas, I believe that I would take this job due to my belief that it matters more with what you do with the job once you get it, rather than the decision resting on the employment itself.
Regarding what action I would take- at this stage of my life I would likely take this job. I am confident in my interest in continuing to work towards working for an organization that I align with in our values and ethics. Along the way, I would help out in external ways when I can. I find volunteering beyond my job and joining local organizations to be a great way to make direct change. I also believe in setting standards for how I want to define stability-as otherwise there will always be excuses on why continuing at Facebook would be necessary. Setting these standards early allows me to live a balanced and content lifestyle while not moving the goalposts on what I need to live. Thus, while I stabilize my role in the world, I would definitely consider a Facebook job.
