CrossFit, the branded workout regimen, deleted its
Facebook and Instagram pages earlier this week and explained the
reasoning through an impassioned press release.
The announcement lists various reasons for the indefinite suspension of
its accounts, including accusations that Facebook’s News Feeds are
“censored and crafted to reflect the political leanings of Facebook’s
utopian socialists.”
The issue stemmed from the deletion of an affiliated South Africa-based Facebook group,
which the company says happened without warning or explanation. The
group has 1.6 million members
espousing the benefits of a low-carb, high-fat diet like CrossFit’s
recommended nutritional regimen, has since been reinstated. But the
damage was done, and the deletion was the final straw in addition to
CrossFit’s wariness over how Facebook handles user data.
he company describes itself as a contrarian group that “stands
steadfastly and often alone against an unholy alliance of academia,
government, and multinational food, beverage, and pharmaceutical
companies.” Its eight main gripes against Facebook are as follows:
1. Facebook collects and aggregates user information and shares it with state and federal authorities, as well as security organizations from other countries.
2. Facebook collaborates with government security agencies on massive citizen surveillance programs such as PRISM.
3. Facebook censors and removes user accounts based on unknown criteria and at the request of third parties including government and foreign government agencies.
4. Facebook collects, aggregates, and sells user information as a matter of business. Its business model allows governments and businesses alike to use its algorithmically conjured advertising categories as sophisticated data-mining and surveillance tools.
5. Facebook’s news feeds are censored and crafted to reflect the political leanings of Facebook’s utopian socialists while remaining vulnerable to misinformation campaigns designed to stir up violence and prejudice.
6. Facebook, as a matter of business and principle, has weak intellectual property protections and is slow to close down IP theft accounts.
7. Facebook has poor security protocols and has been subject to the largest security breaches of user data in history.
8. Facebook is acting in the service of food and beverage industry interests by deleting the accounts of communities that have identified the corrupted nutritional science responsible for unchecked global chronic disease. In this, it follows the practices of Wikipedia and other private platforms that host public content but retain the ability to remove or silence—without the opportunity for real debate or appeal—information and perspectives outside a narrow scope of belief or thought. In this case, the approved perspective has resulted in the deaths of millions through preventable diseases. Facebook is thus complicit in the global chronic disease crisis.
2. Facebook collaborates with government security agencies on massive citizen surveillance programs such as PRISM.
3. Facebook censors and removes user accounts based on unknown criteria and at the request of third parties including government and foreign government agencies.
4. Facebook collects, aggregates, and sells user information as a matter of business. Its business model allows governments and businesses alike to use its algorithmically conjured advertising categories as sophisticated data-mining and surveillance tools.
5. Facebook’s news feeds are censored and crafted to reflect the political leanings of Facebook’s utopian socialists while remaining vulnerable to misinformation campaigns designed to stir up violence and prejudice.
6. Facebook, as a matter of business and principle, has weak intellectual property protections and is slow to close down IP theft accounts.
7. Facebook has poor security protocols and has been subject to the largest security breaches of user data in history.
8. Facebook is acting in the service of food and beverage industry interests by deleting the accounts of communities that have identified the corrupted nutritional science responsible for unchecked global chronic disease. In this, it follows the practices of Wikipedia and other private platforms that host public content but retain the ability to remove or silence—without the opportunity for real debate or appeal—information and perspectives outside a narrow scope of belief or thought. In this case, the approved perspective has resulted in the deaths of millions through preventable diseases. Facebook is thus complicit in the global chronic disease crisis.
Crossfit seems to sustain itself on conflicts and "battles" with the mainstream fitness and healthcare industries, but these complaints against Facebook seem solid and legitimate to me. Why anyone is still using FB and Instagram is beyond me.
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