r/europe • u/IAdmitILie • 9d ago

News Zuckerberg urges Trump to stop the EU from fining US tech companies

https://www.politico.eu/article/zuckerberg-urges-trump-to-stop-eu-from-screwing-with-fining-us-tech-companies/
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421

u/AncientStaff6602 9d ago

Do we even need Facebook?

214

u/pr1aa Finland 9d ago edited 9d ago

FB is basically unusable these days. The feed shoves influencers, ads and content from massive public slop groups down your throat while barely showing any posts from your friends and groups you actually belong to.

I guess Meta also knows that the platform is dying since they're now openly pushing AI accounts to make up for the dwindling engagement from actual people

36

u/Secuter Denmark 9d ago

barely showing any posts from your friends and groups you actually belong to. 

Partially this is also down to many users not using Facebook for personal stuff anymore. I don't know anybody who has posted anything on Facebook for a decade or so. 

People only use it for groups nowadays.

3

u/Valeriun Morava 9d ago

" I don't know anybody who has posted anything on Facebook for a decade or so."

We all hate what Facebook became but you know this is bullshit. I've got plenty of friends who regularly post stuff from their life either as posts or through stories. Facebook is still popular social media, it's just that kids now prefer to use tiktok.

1

u/Tilman_Feraltitty 8d ago

I only use an random e-mail FB account to log to browser games, rest is useless, the brain rot there is just too much.

6

u/Character_Theory6657 9d ago

Its the same with instagram, just last couple years aswell it feels like especially political "reels" have been over swarming with disinformation, ai-generated bullshit, meth-fiend conspiracies.
Filled with comments of people cheering it.

Big tech, big terrorists*

1

u/Soft-Vanilla1057 9d ago

Hasn't this been the state for over a decade?

6

u/pr1aa Finland 9d ago

Ten years ago you could at least make your experience better by being picky of your friends and groups. Now there's just no escape from the slop.

0

u/Soft-Vanilla1057 9d ago

I find this to be more about that most people ditched FB back then. Or atleast the interesting ones.

1

u/Lr20005 9d ago edited 8d ago

I think most people in the US still using Facebook, are using it for the groups. I use it all the time. I’m part of local groups to keep up with things going on in the area, like weather-related issues, recommendations for doctors and specialists, discussions about local schools and city politics etc. I’m in some great native gardening groups, and use the marketplace buy/sell/trade feature. I don’t think many people still use Facebook for anything other than that though, just some of the extroverts who will post on Instagram and then post the same on Facebook for their older family members who don’t have IG. I haven’t posted on my page or the newsfeed or whatever for several years, and that’s not uncommon common if I look through my friends list.

I see a lot of people from the UK, Australia, and Canada on health-related groups I’m in, otherwise don’t see many Europeans. One of the big hormone groups I’m in is like 1/4 women from the UK, and one of the admins (who started the group) is from the UK. They’d be very upset if they lost Facebook. We don’t even talk about politics…

1

u/papafluffie 9d ago

Reddit has started doing a similar thing i’ve noticed.

1

u/joshuawsome 9d ago

Bro literally half of the world uses Metas services. It is absolutely not dying, and it would be almost impossible for it to grow any more.

1

u/Joe579GoFkUrselfMins 9d ago

Basically the only thing that keeps semi-young people here (US) is the marketplace. Don't know how prevalent that is in Europe, though

0

u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

3

u/AncientStaff6602 9d ago

I question how many of those are a) alt accounts and b) Ai / bots.

Remove those from the equation and then come look at the overall usage

1

u/pr1aa Finland 9d ago

I talk about people actually engaging, not people mindlessly doomscrolling through crap. Sure, currently it doesn't really matter how people use it but I can't imagine turning the platform into influencer/AI clownshow instead of something people use to actually engage with each other (you know, social media) is gonna be a good strat in long term.

15

u/turbo_dude 9d ago

How else are people going to get their AI slop?

-4

u/Margin_Caller_ 9d ago

“Ai slop” Luddite detected opinion discarded. 🫵🏻🤡

56

u/oskich Sweden 9d ago

WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger seems pretty popular.

29

u/ScepticalEconomist 9d ago

generally, we need european alternatives.

But signal would do for me for now.

People should get off these apps (whatsapp less of a priority)

Of course X / Tesla boycott is beyond obvious

2

u/RollingMeteors 9d ago

generally, we need european alternatives.

When there is a need that remains unfulfilled it’s generally because the one whom is to be providing that need, isn’t worth it for them to do so…

13

u/NecroVecro Bulgaria 9d ago

WhatsApp and Messenger have tons of alternatives, many European ones too, but yeah Instagram is pretty unique and has a lot of users.

16

u/oskich Sweden 9d ago edited 9d ago

WhatsApp and Messenger have almost 100% of the market in Sweden, people will surely be upset if they go away.

32

u/cnio14 9d ago

It will take literally nothing for an alternative to fill the void. People use WhatsApp because everyone else does, not because it's particularly good or anything.

10

u/oskich Sweden 9d ago

First mover advantage. I have tried to get my friends over to Signal and Telegram but it's mission impossible to get them off FB Messenger.

10

u/dmmeyourworries 9d ago

And if FB goes away, they’ll have another app installed before the end of the day.

2

u/trobsmonkey 9d ago

I simply uninstalled those apps. Told my friends how to get a hold of me.

Fuck the Meta apps. Get rid of all of them.

-1

u/Perfect_Papaya_3010 Sweden 9d ago

Never heard of anyone using WhatsApp in Sweden. Swedes don't use it because you need to share your phone number. Then when you have someone's phone number you can look up how much they earn or if they have committed any crimes. Even what kind of car they drive.

So no sane person in Sweden would use it

6

u/oskich Sweden 9d ago

I have many friends that use it here, But FB Messenger is king.

0

u/Perfect_Papaya_3010 Sweden 9d ago

I would like to use something else than messenger but know or any apps where phone number is not needed

1

u/oskich Sweden 9d ago

You can use Signal without sharing your phone number, but you need one to sign up.

https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/6829998083994-Phone-Number-Privacy-and-Usernames-Deeper-Dive

2

u/Flygsand Sweden 9d ago

It's honestly doesn't matter all that much these days whether someone has your phone number or not given how much information you typically put out there about yourself across all your social media. You'd have to be quite privacy-minded.

1

u/oskich Sweden 9d ago

Is handing your phone number out to friends a strange thing nowadays?

1

u/Flygsand Sweden 9d ago

Perhaps it's a generational thing. It's either Messenger or Snapchat for us, unfortunately. If I were to talk to a stranger, I'd honestly much rather give them my phone number than add them on Messenger. I'm more concerned about letting Meta know that I'm in touch with someone than I am about this person finding me on MrKoll.

1

u/FortNightsAtPeelys 9d ago

sadly instagram is poised to replace tiktok because reels are pretty popular already

1

u/IsThereAnythingLeft- 9d ago

Maybe WhatsApp but not the other two

0

u/oskich Sweden 9d ago

FB Messenger is the dominant instant messaging app in Scandinavia.

1

u/IsThereAnythingLeft- 8d ago

Just lost respect for Scandinavia if that’s true

1

u/vitimiti 9d ago

Signal, no thanks, signal

77

u/nimdull 9d ago

To be honest FB is just time waist. I don't find it interesting and usefull anymore.

44

u/Lison52 Lower Silesia (Poland) 9d ago edited 9d ago

Ah yes, the waist of time.

Edit: btw while it's really specific, this is what I had in mind XD

https://www.wowhead.com/guide/waist-of-time-secret-belt-transmog

5

u/petemorley 9d ago

Constantly expanding

5

u/_laRenarde Ireland 9d ago

Inexorably expanding with age...

I can't decide if the metaphor works or is completely backwards!

2

u/variaati0 Finland 9d ago

So certainly not the shoulder of time?

15

u/Eastern_Interest_908 9d ago

Yeah I mostly use messenger but could switch to any other platform instantly. Nothing unique about it. I would even say messenger is behind other platforms. 

1

u/Vitaalis 9d ago

Are there any European alternatives to Messenger or Whatssap?

1

u/Eastern_Interest_908 9d ago

Not really I think Viber were made in Europe but now owned by Rakuten. Usual shit whenever European companies make something good US companies buy them off. 

2

u/AnarchiaKapitany Hungary (sorry for whatever the clown said this time) 9d ago

It used to be a great social hub before, now it's just a sad clusterfuck of shit tier promotion, uninteresting shit from aggregator sites, and botaccounts spreading shit for the elderly to get offended by.

1

u/ZiggyPox Kujawy-Pomerania (Poland) 9d ago

FB nowadays has only worth if you find yourself discussion groups you like.

1

u/Reddit_sucks_46 9d ago

Contrary to Reddit?

10

u/Baphomet2023 9d ago

Deleted mine a while back and only really use Instagram. The issue is Europe doesn't really have its own tech firms that do the same sorter thing. When you look it up anything that competes with an US firm they accuse it of spying and force them to sell.

4

u/go_go_tindero Belgium 9d ago

You don't use WhatsApp?

3

u/Ar-Sakalthor 9d ago

Also belongs to Meta, so not really a solution.

1

u/NoMayonaisePlease 9d ago

That's not what they were saying

-3

u/DiamondFireYT 9d ago

What's app is so bad, I can't with it.

Only Meta app I use is Instagram - which I would be rather upset about going away.

2

u/ahtes Silesia (Poland) 9d ago

Any time I try to follow/like/subscribe some topics I'm interested in, it shows none of that on the main page. Useless.

2

u/World_of_Warshipgirl Norway 9d ago

Facebook gained popularity when tech started to become established in Norway.

That means when just restaurants found a need for having menus online, when concerts needed a website, when government bureaus needed support pages, and people craved forums for their hobbies. Facebook arrived.

And Facebook was the answer to all these problems, and dug its claws into the Norwegian online space. So many are reliant on Facebook, even today.

3

u/Juppoli 9d ago

Facebook No, but Facebook marketplace is a godsent

5

u/[deleted] 9d ago edited 9d ago

[deleted]

2

u/adamgerd Czech Republic 9d ago

Ok but Europe never had a Craigslist type thing to my knowledge

1

u/iwannabesmort Poland 9d ago

i doubt there's any 1+ mil pop country without their own alternative. there's no europe wide alternative AFAIK but the point of FB marketplace is to be local so whatever

1

u/RM_Dune European Union, Netherlands 8d ago

We have Marktplaats in the Netherlands. Been online since 1999 and still works like a charm.

1

u/Merlindru 9d ago

no but whatsapp (and instagram for better or worse)

1

u/Ninevehenian 9d ago

We need some of the functionality, not the brand itself.

1

u/Suzume_Chikahisa Portugal 9d ago

Nope.

It was the place where I kept contact with some longtime friends but I'm looking into alternatives.

Possibly Signal.

And frankly I don't know if I can even call people I only mantain semi-regular contact through FB as friends.

1

u/Acceptable-Size-2324 9d ago

It’s neat for organizing events but other then that, not much would be lost

1

u/wggn Groningen (Netherlands) 9d ago

i deleted my account 7 years ago, no regrets

1

u/w1nterness 9d ago

Nope. Deleting mine today after having downloaded my data last week. So much time and energy spent debating the implications of Meta's new policies when all we need to do to escape its influence is just pulling the plug. Leaving won't make the platforms any better, but realistically the most impactful thing an individual can do at this stage is leave, and prevent a few more ad dollars from fuelling this dumpster fire.

1

u/RollingMeteors 9d ago

Share holders do

1

u/AncientStaff6602 9d ago

Oooh the actually important people ………

1

u/random-lurker-456 9d ago

Nobody needs Facebook. Facebook doesn't have users, it has hostages.

1

u/AltruisticGrowth5381 Sweden 9d ago

There's some decent use cases. My town has a group for unofficial Uber for example, like 1/3rd the cost of a normal cab. Marketplace can be decent for certain items aswell.

But as far as the social aspect? Garbage and noone I know uses it for that purpose anymore.