There’s something sinister about a company that wants to take over the world. And what’s even more sinister to me is how slowly and inconspicuously the take over happens. FB with its to “connect the world” mantra and Google with its to “organize the world’s information” mantra are examples of these companies’ intent to take over the world disguised as inspirational company vision posters.

When you consider quotes like this from Mark Zuckerberg when he told investors that the company makes decisions:

“…not optimizing for what’s going to happen in the next year, but to set us up to really be in this world where every product experience you have is social, and that’s all powered by Facebook.”

You realise there’s something greater at stake.

Think about about how much data Facebook has on you. Your passwords, your pictures, your connections, your buying habits, your surfing habits.

Through the power of algorithms Facebook knows more about you then you do and can accurately predict what you’ll do in the future.

And it’s not just Facebook…there’s also Google, Amazon, Netflix to name a few.

But how do you fight against it without looking like a Luddite? Or maybe like me, you suffer from FOMO – fear of missing out – so you comply with the slow take over of your life even though you can sense the impending doom.

And then there’s this thing with fake news. Although it’s not a new phenomenon ( you can read about the long and brutal history of fake news ) what’s got me questioning myself now is this:

That the “fake news” problem and its proposed solutions have been defined by Facebook as link issues — as a web issue — aligns nicely with a longer-term future in which Facebook’s interface with the web is diminished. Indeed, it heralds the coming moment when posts from outside are suspect by default: out of place, inefficient, little better than spam.

Is all of the attention on fake news part of Facebook’s plan to complete it’s self-contained eco-system in which all of us are trapped in it like The Matrix?