After Facebook changed its algorithms earlier this year in a shift away from media, may publishers have seen their reach become severely limited. Last week, The Onion decided it's had enough.
Scores of articles making fun of Facebook have appeared on the satirical website since Thursday of last week, with posts jabbing at the power Facebook wields over our lives.
Chad Nackers, Editor-In-Chief of The Onion, issued a statement excoriating Facebook's decision to throttle media reach in its attempt to crack down on fake news and hate speech.
Nackers promised that "the last 48 hours is only the tip of the iceberg" in his publication's egg-throwing at Facebook, which it sees as having too much control over the "free flow of information."
"We are strong proponents of the First Amendment, and the fuel of a functioning democracy is the free flow of information. Facebook, the world's largest sieve of personal data, has become an unwanted interloper between The Onion, and our audience.
Nackers said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg "betrayed the trust of billions of people."
"We have 6,572,949 followers on Facebook who receive an ever-decreasing amount of the content we publish on the network. Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly betrayed the trust of billions of people. What you've seen over the last 48 hours is only the tip of the iceberg."
One Onion article in particular, "Daddy, I Don't Want To Live In The World Your Website Has Created," was cited by Fusion Media Group spokesperson David Ford as a summation of the company's feelings toward Facebook.
Written from a hypothetical daughter of Zuckerberg, the article accuses the billionaire CEO of creating " platform that cripples publishers and severely limits the reach of their content."
"Facebook made it so hardly anyone can afford to pay reporters anymore. And it made people stop trusting the news. Don't you understand how essential a free press is to preserving our democracy? Don't you know anything about the Constitution?"
It also knocks the original purpose of Facebook, which is rumored to have been a way for Zuckerberg to rate girls.
"When you really think about it, it's not that surprising that you got the whole idea for your big website when you were in college and wanted a way to vote on which girls you thought were pretty. If only you'd just had enough self-esteem to trust that you'd eventually marry someone nice like Mommy, then maybe all this trouble could've been avoided."
"Is it all about the money?" the letter asks. "You have $72 billion, money that came from hurting people. When will it be enough? Remember, no matter how much you donate to charity, people will always remember you as a bad person who created a bad thing."
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