Having seen the influence social media can have on our discourse and even our political systems, including manipulation of democratic elections I think that comparison is absolutely warranted. It is the infrastructure of our modern communication, not just a 'website with stupid buttons'.

> If you don't want facebook to track you don't make an account on their website and don't click any of the stupid buttons on their website.

They still build a shadow profile of you from mentions and photos that friends upload.

Facebook tracks us through our friends' SMS history, contacts, and invites.

It also tracks us through its widgets on other sites.

It requires a lot of effort to fully opt out.

Without regulation like GDPR, Facebook aren't obliged to state what those stupid buttons actually do with regards to the information they store about you.

Being open and honest with people really doesn't slow down development all that much.