Ethics are a big part of our social life, if it is not the driving part. The social media are drifting away from our ethics. So sorry guys, but we stopped with them. We canceled our subscriptions to Twitter/X, to Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.
From X to ZIP
We saw Twitter changing from a platform where you can be challenged to write a brief but strong note, to a septic tank for negativities. Mr. Elon Musk showed and performed his political ambitions and this social medium is coursing its way from any sort of sustainable, or social standard.
Sorry, it is too much to stay here. Many people started boycotting X and stepped to Blue Sky. Fossil Free Around the World doesnot boycot the medium, but just wants to stay away from it, since it is not social, in any sort of way but the negative one. We go for zip media.
Zuckerberg free
The same is for the Meta media of mr. Mark Zuckerberg. These media are misused in the 2016 US elections and violated several laws and standards about privacy and ethics (Facebook-Cambridge Analytica incident ) . Mr. Zuckerberg excused himself publicly for these lacks of action. But meanwhile, European data protection law propositions were formed (in constant cooperation with Meta) and later these laws took effect. Meta (then called Facebook) violated them and the EU gave warnings. It did not help. Then (in 2018) the EU fined Meta . Meta continued to violate the laws on dataprotection and in 2023 Meta had to pay a total of 1.2 billion Euro.
1.2 billion Euro is not that much for a company making 160 billion last year with a revenue of 30 billion for selling the profiles of each of us. (The revenue is so big, because we ourselves put in our personal data in their databases under Facebook, Instagram, et cetera.)
However, in stead of paying the fine, Mr. Zuckerberg chose to pay several millions to be part of Mr. Tumps inauguration for president of the USA. This is a political move to save Meta from paying the EU’s fine.
These are not the ethics we stand for. Or legally, Meta commits a crime. We don’t want to be associated with criminals. Let us call the boss of it all neatly Mark Z.
Fossil Free Around the World – and its Dutch counterpart Duurzaam Jacht- has terminated the subscriptions on Meta products Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.
We are Zuckerbergfree.
Historical reason
The pre-Millenium reader remembers the first years of internet in the nineties and early 2000s. Internet was for us. Nowadays the internet is a data harvesting machine, and these data go to the so called Big Tech companies, about 6 in total. They make profiles of your data and sell them to companies for direct advertising.
Nowadays the internet is for these Big Tech, or Big Data companies. We lost the internet as a free medium and if we want to have an advertisement free medium, we pay about $10 per subscription link (from 2025 not possible anymore, you have to accept less personalized ads for $5/month). And still, your data are harvested.
Helping sustainability
Please realize that the richest 19 persons of the world create 10% of the environmental impact. So the poorer you make the rich, the better off is Mother Earth, and so our children.
Alternatives
Signal is the replacement for Whatsapp. It is built by the original Whatsapp developer/owner, who sold it to Mark Z. if every user would Signal.org just one dollar per year, Signal can continue forever.
A website paid by yourself as the alternative for ‘social’ media, costs you about 100 Euro per year (except for the first year to build it, costs you 500 Euro). Then, you also get some email adresses.
Every family member can have its own email adress and on the website each member can have has its page. So for example the family vandervelde:
Dick has page www.vandervelde.fam/dick and his email is dick@vandervelde.fam
Lisa has page www.vanderveld.fam/lisa and her email is lisa@vandervelde.fam
There are more alternatives.
Android can be made less bad with https://developer.android.com/privacy?hl=en
Apple phones can be made less bad with the Privacy Report-function
A fairer world
It costs you some effort, but, this way we will get our internet back.
And, the world will be a bit fairer.