As a junior studying computer science who is also fixing to graduate in the next two years, I am very interested in being employed. Working in the tech field allows for a great deal of influence on the design and implementation which can have a great impact on everyday life. With respect to Facebook, there have been numerous controversies in how it propagates misinformation and is capable of inciting violence.
I previously studied case examples within Facebook under Alex Stamos, a former CSO at Facebook and Stanford CS 152 lecturer. Facebook in the past has promoted viral content in Myanmar, which led to ethnic violence. Content that contained strong messages of hate or curated large reactions from people happened to generate more site popularity and interactions; thus the Facebook feed algorithm suggested such content to more and more users. In addition to promotion of violent, viral content, Facebook has had a hand in trust and safety issues, like cyberbullying and sextortion cases. These cases have led to mental deterioration of users, suicides, and child pornography.
While Facebook has its faults, I believe that I can be ethically employed there.
In chapter 5.2 of the Business Ethics Workshop, there is a mention that employees should evaluate how unethical and distant you are personally to the problem.
I believe that working at Facebook isn’t inherently unethical. Facebook’s feed algorithm is not intentionally curated to create misinformation and violence; it seeks to promote viral content. While there are trust and safety issues with Facebook, this is something that is prevalent to all forms of social media, and is not at fault with social media but rather its users.
The distance to the problem is actually quite close. Facebook’s feed algorithm is something I could personally work with, and I could probably influence its design. While difficult, Facebook itself has devoted itself to moderating its content and conducting itself ethically. There is a trust and safety team at Facebook that has done a lot of good (working with law enforcement and taking down sextortion rings). So the capability of doing good at an ethically dubious company is very possible.
Instead of working at Facebook, you could just work at a different company. However, I believe that it is more ethically empowering if you choose to work at the company. In the same vein, it would be better to work directly on the ethically charged problem as opposed to what the text says. The proximity to the problem allows for change and advocacy, which is a stronger ethical argument than being an actively aware bystander. To leave the workplace is to distance my moral consciousness from unethical actions, which delegates the responsibility to whoever replaces me. The most meaningful action in relation to keeping my job and ethical considerations is to take action within Facebook. By being an active voice against unethical considerations and possibly whistleblowing, you become an ethically charged person instead of a simple bystander or proponent.
