An investigation by the media organization The Markup found the pixel by Facebook and Instagram-parent Meta on dozens of popular websites targeting kids from kindergarten to college, including sites that students are all but required to use if they want to participate in school activities or apply to college.
On some level, that’s not a surprise: tracking tools like the pixel are so widespread that intensive tracking is almost the status quo. You could make the argument that these educational sites are “just the same as any other site,” said Marshini Chetty, associate professor of computer science at the University of Chicago.
But dealing with kids raises bigger questions about tracking on the web. “Why is there the Meta Pixel? Why are there session recorders?” she said. “What is the place of that on these sites?”
Big “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” energy.
Facebook has the resources and personnel to maintain basic ethical standards for whom they sell their products to and how they are used. They chose not to because it is more profitable to chose not to. This isn’t either/or. You blame the operators of those websites AND you blame big tech.
We need to stop pretending it is remotely OK to behave without any semblance of humanist morals in the pursuit of capital. It isn’t. It never was. It never will be. Anyone who tells you profits need to be prioritized over ethical standards, in any situation, at any time, for any reason, should be committed.