Megan Amram on Meta’s privacy reversal, what corporate communication means when you study it through a Marxist lens, and why the club at midnight was nonetheless excellent
Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
Zuckerberg Declares Privacy Is Back and This Is Not What Privacy Looks Like
I was at the club on Saturday when Camille sent me the screenshot. Zuckerberg has declared privacy is back. Camille’s accompanying text was: “thoughts?” My thoughts were: (1) this is a statement by a person whose business model is the systematic monetisation of private information; (2) “back” implies it was present before, which it was not, which is the entire history of Meta’s relationship with user privacy rendered as a single word; (3) I am at a club and the DJ is very good and I am going to process this fully tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s processing: Zuckerberg’s privacy declaration is an example of what Marxist communication theory describes as ideological mystification — the presentation of a new policy framing that appears to address a structural criticism without addressing the structure. Zuckerberg measures your keystrokes. He also measures your mouse movements, your scroll patterns, your purchase history, your location, and the metadata of your private messages. The declaration that privacy is “back” is not a description of changed data practices. It is a branding exercise in response to regulatory and public relations pressure that adjusts the language without adjusting the collection.
The Club, Which Was Excellent Regardless
The DJ was playing a set that moved from something post-punk adjacent to something that was pure early house music in a way that should not have worked and did work. I was on the floor until 2am and I did not think about Zuckerberg for approximately two of those hours, which was the correct amount of time to not think about Zuckerberg. Managing corporate ideological mystification requires the energy that a good night out restores. I am restored. The analysis above is the result. Zuckerberg’s privacy is not your privacy. The club was excellent. Both remain true.
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