Facebook turned 20 years old in February 2024. Zuck turned 40 years old in May 2024. We’re not throwing any parties this year. Instead, we’re giving some serious side-eye to Meta’s new dividends for shareholders, which began in March 2024 and are expected to continue every quarter.

Zuck and other social media CEOs were lambasted at another Congressional hearing on January 31, 2024. Meta announced the dividends, as well as a plan to buy back $50 billion in stock, on February 1, 2024.

It seemed like a blatant scheme to buy good will. But the thing is – it worked! Meta’s stock price rose 14% by the end of the day. Since then, it has trended upward. FUCK!

While Meta buys off its shareholders, we’re amplifying the work of journalists and independent researchers with an update to The Facebook Timeline of Scandal and Strife. We have no illusions that we can shame Meta into reforming. But as an anti-piracy organization, we make it our business to point out  Meta’s failures in content moderation, as well as its abuses of power and violations of privacy.

March 16, 2024 – Knock, Knock, It’s a Grand Jury. Did You Profit from Illegal Sales of Prescription Drugs?

According to court documents and anonymous sources, a grand jury in Virginia has been reviewing evidence that Meta and other social media companies allowed, facilitated, or profited from illegal sales of prescription drugs. Subpoenas for evidence were submitted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Ramseyer, a veteran of the federal government’s case against Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer and aggressive marketer of the opioid OxyContin.

Of course, we’re skeptical that Meta will cooperate with the investigation. But journalists and watchdog organizations have found ads that push telehealth prescriptions for Adderall, offer Ozempic without requiring a prescription, or fail to disclose a medication’s side effects. We’re certain that Meta SHOULD pay a fine or settlement. If it does, we’ll happily update the Fine Tracker!

March 26, 2024 – When There’s a Rival App, And It Don’t Look Good, Who’s Your Monopoly Gonna Call?

According to newly unsealed court documents, Meta ran a secret operation, codenamed Project Ghostbusters, from 2016-2019. Did executives establish it to protect users from faceless online predators, much as a team of heroes saves New York City from otherworldly threats in Ivan Reitman’s classic movie?

Nope – that would have been way cooler. In actuality, Zuck wanted to obtain private information about SnapChat – you know, the competing app with the disappearing messages and ghost logo. Therefore, Meta tricked smartphone users into downloading a VPN tool, which was supposed to improve privacy but actually enabled Meta to monitor other companies’ apps. Now, Meta is on trial for anti-competitive conduct and wiretapping. Get slimed, Zuck.

May 2, 2024 – Anti-Government Militias on Rise in Facebook Groups. Again.

Meta’s content moderation department couldn’t find its own ass with both hands. And a compass and a map!  

Taking advantage of this weakness, anti-government militia groups are recruiting members, organizing meetings, and urging battle-readiness in approximately 200 Facebook Groups. Although many of the extremist organizations have been banned or blacklisted by Meta, they remain on its platforms, where they are easily discovered by journalists or independent investigators but not, somehow, by Meta’s own employees or algorithms.

Katie Paul, Director of the Tech Transparency Project, cut through the trillion-dollar company’s bullshit: “[T]he policies it [Meta] regularly touts are no more than a public relations ruse rather than actual efforts to combat harm.” We have drawn the same conclusion, but we don’t seem capable of expressing it so politely.

July 1, 2024 – EU Could Fine Meta 10% of Global Revenue for Taking Personal Data Without Consent

The European Union has accused Meta of another legal violation – coercing users to relinquish their personal data. Under the Digital Markets Act, platforms considered “gatekeepers” cannot use personal data for targeted ads unless users give consent. In the EU, Meta requires users to accept personalized ads or pay for an ad-free experience.

Most people choose the first option, but their consent isn’t freely given, the EU argues, because Meta imposes financial consequences on users who keep their data private. According to regulators, Meta must also offer a free, ad-supported service without microtargeting to satisfy the DMA. If the regulators prevail in court, Meta could be fined 10% of global revenue, or $13 BILLION. Meta won’t be able to pay THAT bill merely by shaking out the couch cushions!

July 22, 2024 – For Privacy Violations, Meta Was Fined $220 Million in Nigeria, $35 Million in Turkey

After a 38-month investigation, Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has ordered Meta to pay $220 million for violating the privacy of Nigerian users. The FCCPC conducted the investigation in cooperation with Nigeria’s Data Protection Commission. Nigerian regulators, like their EU counterparts, were primarily concerned that Meta collected and exploited people’s data without their informed consent.  The fine comes less than two months after similar concerns led to a $35 million fine in Turkey. Let’s add both penalties to the Fine Tracker now and hope that more countries will follow suit!

Fine Tracker Total: $2,992,888,000

July 31, 2024 – Meta Will Pay $1.4 Billion to Settle Texas Lawsuit About Stealing People’s FACES

Although Meta won’t admit wrongdoing (has it ever?), it will pay $1.4 BILLION to settle a lawsuit from the Texas attorney general concerning facial recognition technology. According to the lawsuit, filed in 2022, Meta took biometric data from Texans without their consent for over 10 years.  If the allegations are true (sure seems like they are!), then Meta may have broken two state laws: the Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act and the Deceptive Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act. We would have liked to see Meta (fail to) defend itself in court, but at least Texas will reclaim some of Meta’s ill-gotten gains.

Fine Tracker Total: $4,392,888,000

September 10, 2024 – Meta Deletes Wildfire Warnings as Spam

Do you remember when Facebook blocked news in Canada despite ongoing wildfires? Well, now Facebook’s automated systems are quietly deleting posts about wildfires in the western United States. The posts may come from concerned citizens, fire safety professionals, or even state and federal authorities, but regardless, Facebook has been aggressively flagging their posts as spam since June 2024. Often, account holders do not realize their posts have been deleted until someone else points it out or they stumble across the following message in their inbox: “It looks like you tried to get likes, follows, shares or video views in a misleading way.” If Facebook wanted us all to burn, that fact would go some way toward explaining why it suspended a page belonging to the U.S. Forest Service. But the truth is stupider. Meta just simply sucks at content moderation.

As you saw, the Fine Tracker Total just surpassed $4 billion. We wish we could relish Meta’s misfortune – which would be completely morally justifiable, because Meta is a very shitty company.

Unfortunately, as we often point out, most fines are small change for the trillion-dollar behemoth. Meta just pays them while its behavior stays the same and its profits rise.

We feel cautiously optimistic about EU fines calculated as a percentage of global revenue. If they are sustained by courts, we might supplement the Fine Tracker with a pie chart. What percentage of Meta’s global revenue was eaten up by fines this year? Oh, all of it? Oh no!! Anyway …

As you can probably tell, we would watch with utter glee if EU regulators chomped away at Meta’s bottom line. Then, a few years later, we would watch the movie about Meta’s demise. In IMAX. With popcorn, of course!

Alas, Aaron Sorkin won’t answer our emails, so the movie of our fantasies won’t be produced anytime soon. But here’s the kernel of truth in our fantasy:

Meta won’t do the right thing for the right reasons, so lawmakers have to come for the one thing Meta cares about – money.