> Is HN really more anti-Facebook than the general population?

Yes, definitely.

> If so, why?

Because the general population cares less about privacy than HN. But I (not OP) think it goes deeper than that, and I've seen people here deliberately spreading lies about FB.

Interesting. What else, besides privacy concerns, could be at play?

A little while ago I played with the idea that if the masses were convinced that breaking up Facebook (or Google, Amazon, etc) was a good idea and that it eventually happened - the surviving BigTech "shrapnel" would be less capable to stand up against a government seeking information or control over them.

A paranoid and overly Orwellian idea for sure, but interesting to play around with!

Facebook never clicked for me.

I'm not really a proper programmer. I know a little HTML and CSS, but I seem to fit in here better than most places. I have a Certificate in GIS, I run my own websites and I seem to relate to the internet differently than most people who are into Facebook.

The comments I see on HN seem to generally agree with that pattern: It's seems like it's "just not my cup of tea" for a lot of people who are more computer literate than average. On top of that, the privacy issues have become such a big deal of late.

I've heard it alleged that HN "top users" are disproportionately Google employees; if so that would explain it.

I'd be very surprised if that was so. People move often between the two companies, and in my experience speak of each other quite positively.

More generally, I doubt any employee of a large tech firm has so much loyalty and devotion to their employer that they would take to the internet to undermine a competitor.