Facebook just filed paperwork with the Federal Election Committee to form their own political action committee to endorse a candidate in the upcoming election. According to a company spokesperson, “FB PAC will give our employees a way to make their voice heard in the political process by supporting candidates who share our goals of promoting the value of innovation to our economy while giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”
Without mincing words, Facebook seems to be taking over the world. In 20 years, anyone who decides to run for office and has ever had a Facebook will have a whole timeline documenting his or her social networking existence, thanks to Facebook’s new feature. This year, Facebook is poised to pass Yahoo as the number one display ad-selling company in the country.
And now, they are taking it upon themselves to ingratiate their social networking platform into government. It is one thing to have candidates for office endorse their campaigns through Facebook’s pages, but it is another thing entirely to mix social networking and government policy. At the rate Facebook is growing, more influence for the company in America’s politics is the last thing the American people need.
Facebook is establishing their PAC under the guise of promoting connectivity and global communication, but in actuality they are forming a government stronghold that would, if effective, prove too powerful and far-reaching for a company of its nature. The oil companies and other big wigs that control Congress’s purse strings now were once as inconsequential in politics as Facebook, and as a result of their exponential growth have gained far too large a stake in political matters.
The social networking platform’s doe-eyed, “please, sir, can I have some more?” act should not be tolerated in a political atmosphere. Facebook already knows its users’ interests, preferences, daily activities and religious views, rendering them the Las Vegas jackpot of the advertising world. Do they really need more than that?
Our Facebook profiles already dictate our everyday lives and infiltrate the motivations behind our behaviors. We should not allow it to take control of our political system as well.
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