You might have noticed Facebook has been making a lot of enemies recently.
Earlier in the past year, Mark Zuckerberg faced the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees in a five-hour Senate hearing that was meant to determine how Facebook allowed Cambridge Analytica to mine information from 87 million Facebook users.
Facebook has a privacy problem, and many users believe their personal information is being inadequately protected by the site.
A few years earlier, for example, Facebook spread fake news and was accused by many of swaying results in the 2016 presidential election. According to a BuzzFeed News analysis, the top 20 fake news stories on Facebook in the days before the election performed better on the site than the top 20 real news stories.
Further controversy was created when Facebook provided a platform for the dissemination of hate speech and propaganda.
In addition, other individuals take offense to the manner in which the site is chipping away at the traditional journalistic platform, and some claim Facebook could contribute to feelings of depression and loneliness.
“The negative associations of Facebook use were comparable to or greater in magnitude than the positive impact of offline interactions, which suggests a possible tradeoff between offline and online relationships,” said researchers Holly B. Shakya and Nicholas A. Christakis, both of whom conducted a study to determine any links between mental health and Facebook.
In other words, a lot of points have been made against the social media platform. As of the present, however, another website is ready to make even more.
The Onion, a satirical news website founded in 1988, has been ramping up their comedic attack on Facebook over the past couple of months, beginning with an article entitled “Report: We Don’t Make Any Money If You Don’t Click The Fucking Link,” which is pinned at the top of the organization’s Twitter feed.
Starting on June 14, the hits from The Onion started approaching hard from left and right.
The first article of the day was entitled “Mark Zuckerberg Insists Anyone With Same Skewed Values And Unrelenting Thirst For Power Could Have Made Same Mistakes.”
Around one hour later, The Onion published another one: “Facebook Users Ashamed of Criticizing Company After Seeing Heartwarming ‘Here Together’ Ad Campaign.”
In less than another hour, The Onion published yet another article: “As A Facebook Employee, I Was Ordered To Buy Thousand Of Stories About Mark Zuckerberg’s Human Zoo.”
The official Twitter account of The Onion tweeted a link to the article, which was preceded by a quote from the piece.
"I know I can’t undo what I’ve done. All I can do is hope that my story will bring about the closing of this appalling facility that Mark continues to run for his own depraved amusement." https://t.co/Ksgv7iPoAJ pic.twitter.com/vDOSXwobPa
— The Onion (@TheOnion) June 14, 2018
But the organization wasn’t ready to stop targeting Facebook yet. After the first three articles and related tweets, The Onion published a fourth article: “Mark Zuckerberg Recalls Coming Up With Idea For Facebook After Seeing Dopamine-Addicted Lab Rat Starve To Death.”
Hours later, after a brief hiatus, The Onion resumed its attack on Facebook with the release of a video on its Twitter profile:
6-Year-Old Explains How Messed Up It Is That Her Entire Life Has Been Put On Facebook pic.twitter.com/kIYigNBOqc
— The Onion (@TheOnion) June 14, 2018
Shortly after, The Onion published its final anti-Facebook tweet of the day in honor of its fifth related article in the short span of around four hours: “Creepy Weirdo Still Stalking You On Facebook.”
The Onion’s attack on Facebook wasn’t nearly over, though. During the next few days, the organization’s articles regarding Facebook only became darker, such as two disturbing pieces from June 15:
‘We Must Protect The Pure Aryan Bloodline,’ Says Child After 9 Minutes Of Unsupervised Facebook Access https://t.co/jK8iOzKaCR pic.twitter.com/98oeE0M8sH
— The Onion (@TheOnion) June 15, 2018
‘You’re Deleting Your Account? We’ll Be Sad To See You Go,’ Says Facebook Prompt Showing User Photo Of Own Dead Body https://t.co/mrD4nwJDwe pic.twitter.com/Y3geuBb3I1
— The Onion (@TheOnion) June 15, 2018
Although The Onion has yet to release a statement explaining why they are coming for Facebook with no holds barred, it is safe to assume that it is likely a combination of Facebook’s previous controversies.
You can keep tabs on The Onion’s Twitter feed to watch more articles progress in real time.
