Sonos pulling Facebook ads

This is a community and I had hoped it would remain a “politics free” zone. I am saddened to see Sonos enter into this Cambridge Analytica scandal and make public a decision to end relationships with Facebook. What happened with Facebook was unfortunate and they will learn from it. Frankly, I don’t really get it. I understand I am willing to share certain information when I use the internet and every time I “click” and accept the terms of a user agreement or a cookie the site is going to mine information about me and my activity. For Sonos to pile on in some attempt to seem more righteous or “better than” is really troubling. Sonos you can make this business decision, it doesn’t really matter to me when/how you market your products, but when you grasp on to some moral high ground as the basis for the decision it is disappointing especially when you rely on the data previously to market your product. That appears to have been okay, but now that data is being used in some other manner people are upset.

So you joined the Sonos community on the 24th March and this is this is your first post on the same day. You claim in this post that the community is a "politics free zone", and then express your disatisfaction with a decision Sonos has made regarding its relationship with Facebook and imply this is somehow "politically motivated". It appears that by making this post it is you who seems to be playing politics.

Lets be clear. The allegation is that Facebook allowed harvesting of information from users on an industrial scale. If this had been carried out by organised criminal gangs, or an organisation intent on subverting democratic processes, or my Aunt Molly wanting to sell wooly socks, the result is the same. Facebook appears to have allowed someting illegal to happen. Facebook also appears to have known what was happening and yet failed to alert the relevant authorities.

So when faced with this information, Sonos has decided to suspend a business relationship. Sonos is protecting its brand. Sonos is protecting its stakeholders.

Simple.

If you choose to read something into that then thats up to you, but please don't shed crocodile tears about this issue politicising a "politics free zone" when the only one politicising it is you.

I just read today in an Engadget article that Sonos was going to temporarily pull it's Facebook ads in response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal and is donating that money to digital rights issues. Good for you guys! I like the product, now I have a reason to like the company too.
I am not sure that "temporarily pulling Facebook ads" is anything more than a cheap PR stunt. Pull the ads until Facebook are given a clean bill of health from the regulators (could take years) perhaps, but a decision that can be reversed in a week to two, not so sure.

DM_Tim, not to bust your bubble, but I have been a Sonos user since 2005 and until a few weeks ago I loved the stated aim and direction of the company but the recent decision and methods used to kill off the CR100 has made me have to reevaluate this position.

I love (not like) the product, but now have reason not to like or trust the company.

TJRL, thanks, I think you get my point. I was disappointed to see SONOS jump on board. Its was a stunt by a very astute company that is well aware of how to leverage online data. Mountkeen I understand your point. I use this site to get information and YUP when I saw the post related to Facebook it was enough to spur me to open an account. To be completely upfront I am really not clear what was illegal. A third party mined information and used it for their purposes, they appear to have built a rather robust business on it. Innovative - sure. Just not so clear how its was illegal. Again, I assumed I gave up my information privacy as a result of a couple mouse clicks. A marketing firm uses the information to sell me stuff, be it a product, service or a political personality/figure.

I'm glad to see that Sonos is moving away from any service that engages in tracking users without their explicit consent. No politics involved in that decision as CA has ties to both sides, just respect for Sonos users.

Tracking is a lot more than cookies today and very hard to stop. This is a good piece on tracking today:

Part 1
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=233161

Part 2
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?singlepost=3440192