I would accept a job at Facebook. I think Facebook’s moral and ethical failings are symptomatic of a misalignment between the moral and ethical understandings of our society, and the implemented legislation and enforced economic policies. I don’t think executives at Facebook sat around a table insidiously and maliciously trying to influence an election and undermine the self-esteem of teenagers. And though I don’t think morality is simply governed by the unstoppable force of fiduciary responsibility, I do think an individual’s reliance on financial compensation in order to live, creates and compounds into an economy that can really only be redirected in two ways: enforced policy, or organized retaliation. Simply, workers must pick their poison, there is no completely moral company.
But what about personal agency and responsibility? I believe individuals are responsible for their own actions, and advocating for change by realigning incentives and creating systems wherein the path of least fiduciary resistance is aligned with the moral and ethical understandings of the society as a whole. Individuals must, first and foremost, take of themselves, earn money to live, obtain shelter, and provide for their families. Only once these needs are met, should they turn their sights outwards, toward their moral obligations of advocacy, both at home, within Facebook* (replace with a morally gray organization here) and abroad (at the governmental and regulatory levels).
I think individuals have the agency to determine what is right and wrong and have a responsibility to advocate for that. I believe individuals should endeavor to live within those bounds as best they can, with as little cognitive dissonance as possible. In the case of employment, I believe individuals should not violate the law, including fulfilling a request that is unlawful or harmful. Individuals should not be ignorant of the decisions happening around them, and honest with themselves; they should avoid moral and Machiavellian justifications (a momentary violation of laws or ethics is okay because it allows us to achieve our vision, which is for the good of society!). For these reasons, I would take a job at Facebook, with the understanding that with that job I accept a moral responsibility to advocate for and participate in, the reformation of legislation and governance within society.
All of this may be naive. It may be simplistic and reductive. I may completely be misunderstanding the situation, and the organization, or even being overly optimistic towards the motivations of those in charge. However, these are my thoughts, and the reasons I believe I would take a job at Facebook, in the rare universe where one would be offered to me.
