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This hilarious clip from John Oliver reminds everyone why we should hate Facebook

We might all hate Facebook, but yet here we are, still using it.

Facebook profiles under a magnifying glass for facial recognition
Image: Pixabay

Last spring at the high point of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook released an ad to apologize for all the crappy things the social networking site has done with our personal data. In the wake of last week’s Facebook stock selloff on Wall Street, the ad has been hilariously tweaked by John Oliver.

On yesterday’s episode of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, Oliver “fixed” the ad to remind us that all Facebook cares about is making money. In doing so, we shouldn’t expect it to change its business policies.

The Verge explains,

Sure, Facebook is coming off the biggest one-day loss of any stock in US history, losing over $120 billion in market value overnight. But as Oliver points out, the things that Facebook apologizes for in its original ad — like rampant clickbait, data misuse, and virally trending false stories — didn’t happen in a vacuum. It happened because Facebook’s entire business model and algorithms were built on incentivizing sensational content and extracting as much data as possible from users to repackage to advertisers.

READ MORE: John Oliver used ‘legal bits of fuckery’ to blackmail Congress

Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal first broke, it seems Facebook can’t catch a break.

Just a month ago, the social giant was accused of exposing user data for 120 million members. The news came just days after it was discovered that Facebook had submitted a patent application for a tool that would remotely turn on your phone’s microphone to start recording whenever it hears inaudible messages hidden in television advertisements. In doing so, the company could use the information it collected to show advertising on Facebook that interests you.

Two weeks ago, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was criticized for comments suggesting Holocaust deniers had a place on the site.

On Friday, Facebook shares dropped nearly 20 percent. At the time of this writing, they are down another 3 percent in active trading.

What do you think of Oliver’s video? Let us know below. 

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Bryan considers himself a well-rounded techie, having written articles for MakeUseOf, KnowTechie, AppAdvice, iDownload Blog. When he's not writing, he's being a single dad and rooting for his alma mater, Penn State, or cheering on the Patriots.

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