Netflix has resumed advertising on X following a suspension by the streamer and other brands after Elon Musk promoted an antisemitic post.
Netflix Resumes Advertising on X After Elon Musk Controversy::Netflix has resumed advertising on X following a suspension by the streamer and other brands after Elon Musk promoted an antisemitic post.
I am so tired of being so disappointed in companies. Was there ever a time when they weren’t just completely soulless? Is there truly no bottom to their ethics?
In school I had to take Business Ethics. The processor officially renamed the course to Ethical Issues in Business, because, as he explained it in class, business has no ethics, but ethical issues arise all the time. I took it to mean that capitalism destroyed humanity, and those of us that are still left humane must deal with ethical issues in a business (ethicless) setting.
I did not take business classes so limited background but if we assume that the US isn’t going to magically transition away from capitalism, we instead have to find a way to legislate a transition to a more ethical capitalism. That phrase seems to be an oxymoron but for things to not keep getting progressively worse I’m thinking we as a society need to figure out a way to make it happen. Any ideas? You seem to have at least taken a course in the matter.
(Assuming you aren't misremembering): That honestly sounds like a really shitty professor.
Ethics are 100% a thing and more people need to improve their intelligence in that regard. What you CAN argue is that morality has no place in business (or engineering (or whatever)). But ethics are not morality or the law.
At this point, I think everyone and their mother is aware of the concept of The Trolley Problem. And... that is pertinent for a reason. Are you going to send the metaphorical train careening into marginalized groups, your workers, your board, or even your family? Or, the inverse of that: Are you going to do something that means you can buy your kids really awesome xmas presents, your board new cars, your workers the nice ramen, or even a moment of lessened horror for trans forlk?
And that ignores the various types of ethics. Even under utilitarianism, there are arguments that you are making a better net good for your board... if only because said marginalized groups suffer so much they will barely notice any relenting.
Improved understanding of what ethics actually are helps to understand WHY good (or more likely) bad things are happening. And it helps those who are in a position to make those decisions to make an intelligent and rational, if not necessarily good, decision.
Back in uni, all the engineering majors were required to take Ethics in Engineering. And it was very obvious who were the libertarian tech bros of the future during that course. But it also, honestly, is the most important course I took in undergrad and the one that has the most use.
And, as a result, when I do recruiting trips/lectures, I tend to cover that topic. I have a nice slide deck of some of the latest horrifying late stage capitalism shit to come out of tech companies as well as whistle blowing stories and I go through it with the students to try to make them think about why they are learning while also finding the people who would be fun to work with or mentor more directly.
Capitalism by its nature will carry out unethical behavior if it means profit. So no, business was always soulless. That's why regulation needs to exist, so the penalty for unethical behavior will negate the profit they could make from it.
Ethics never enter the equation. The highest priority in business is capital, and any company at the level of Netflix follows that maxim religiously. They may be seen following progressive trends, but any good they end up doing only stems from it being profitable to do so.
In other words - no, companies have never not been soulless, and it serves us well to always remember that.
Ethics are a luxury that can be sold like any other, but when times get hard and cuts must be made, ethical companies get devoured by those that are not.
Would Elon be willing to pay high profile companies to advertise on Xitter to entice others back? Of just give them advertising for free? Or... Resume running ads from customers who cancelled just to change public perception?
I'm not saying Netflix isn't a big enough bag of dicks to start advertising with them again, just contemplating
To defeat the Huns...
But seriously, I am amazed at how quickly these changes go. It almost seems that they don't really care about the impact of their actions ;)
They were always going to. As long as Xitter has a user base with money to spend, the large corporations do not care. Anything they do like withdrawing advertising is all for show.
And after all, are you going to cancel your Netflix subscription over this? I actually probably would personally but my partner uses it quite a lot, so we're sticking around. Some people will cancel no doubt but nowhere near a critical mass that will affect their bottom line and they know it.
I have jellyfin but Netflix is more reliable and convenient. It's just that recently it's really hard to find anything interesting on Netflix anyway so this Twitter BS is just like the last drop...
Because they we're really doing anything bad until now. Raising prices is not a dick move. It's a private company offering entertainment. They can milk it however they want and I can cancel it when I decide it's not worth it.
"Ahh, it's been a week, no one remembers that ol Elon Musk agreeing with Nazi rhetoric thingy. Let's spool those ads up again. We're definitely seeing a return on our marketing budget by advertising on the platform known for being mostly bots!"
If they just want to throw money away on ineffective advertising, they can just send it to me. I have a few ideas that are far more effective than Twat.
Netflix spent about $1.5 billion on advertising in 2022. They could just randomly give a million people +$1000 and probably get better word-of-mouth advertising that way.
There probably were a lot of discussions and negotiations, but a lot of the public only sees Netflix going back to Twitter. I'm sure Elmo fans will promote this as Netflix having to bow down
This is what happens every time youtube has an apocalypse. They stay away long enough to feel like they've made their point and then they resume advertising like nothing happened. Maybe it's not advertisers who hold the power and everyone should stop being so scared of them.
Of course they will! This is the sad, sad reality of todays internet - the power is so centralized in the hands of like 4 companies, that every business basically can't ignore them. Like you can but by that you're just hurting yourself from the business point of view. Elon Musk can literally say Fuck You to advertisers and they still need to advertise there. This is just crazy. On nation level the anti-monopoly bureau would take action but we don't have world wide anti-monopoly bureau.
That's why when people tell me "Oh, Elon Musk just bankrupted Twitter" I say "Did he?". At this point I believe he can do anything he wants, he can murder like dozen people, blow up the headquartes or start selling drugs to children and Twitter would still be fine
Netflix and X are both Tech companies, so this is tech related content. Which follows Rule 2 of the community. Posting about 'Drake's new music video' for example will be "unrelated stuff to this community".
Literally the instruments Drake sings into and uses to record his music are technology. Everything except eating fruit off a tree is technology. If we're going to be this flexible about what counts as fodder for the community then let's just go ahead and allow all of it.
I'm still on Twitter (X) and I don't have a problem with seeing Netflix-ads in my feed.
I somewhat have a problem with a product like Twitter being bought by one person.
If that could have been prevented in the first place, a tweet from one person would not jeopardize the monetization or engagement of that platform.