Don’t trust Facebook’s new privacy play

What’s more, Facebook’s perverse incentive to impinge on the privacy of its users will persist so long as the company derives the bulk of its profits from selling its ability to target ads with unusual precision. A privacy-focused platform that inspired confidence wouldn’t be run by a corporate parent that stores detailed data on its users to sell ads.

And even if Facebook were capable of safeguarding user data, I’d still prefer a privacy-focused platform run by a different company—to hedge against concentrations of power. Wouldn’t it be best if different people ran the most dominant platform for connecting semi-publicly, and the most dominant platform for connecting privately?