The criticisms towards FB are definitely warranted, but I'd argue that other tech giants are on the same level. Facebook was just the only one that openly picked a fight with the entirety of traditional media who have massive resources and experience in manipulating public opinion, so bad or gray area things that Facebook does get amplified more than they would were it another company.

In what way are e.g. Netflix and MS evil on a level even close to Facebook?

Netflix has to be some saint in comparison. MS just now is starting to be a wanna-be Googlesque spy and has a history of screwing competitors over, not the people in general.

Netflix is a saint, I'll agree with you. Microsoft less so. They had market dominance in the 90's and got hit with antitrust for, e.g. preventing users from uninstalling and replacing internet explorer. I remember reading that the only thing this changed about their behavior was they started donating more to political campaigns.

The real offense is that it's been 20 years since then and congress hasn't trust busted any of these companies that have committed way more egregious sins. Apple has your device locked down such that you can't get an app on your own phone unless it's been approved by them. The charger changes every few years so you need to buy a new one, and iphone screens crack notoriously easily. Google and Facebook are competing for who can collect more data on users, but Google's more entrenched by providing services that people need to use like email, search, internet browsers, maps, a phone. Facebook's trying to have a monopoly over your online social life.

Microsoft's brand is strongly B2B, which is lucky for them because businesses 1. have a lot of money to spend on your service, and 2. are unlikely to make very public critical statements about you the way an average Joe consumer would. It's a great position so they're doing everything they can stay entrenched. It makes sense that their biggest sins are in being anticompetitive; they hit the jackpot and are trying not to share it.

Other tech giants are definitely not on the same level. Facebook is the only one which directly profits from manipulating people.

It's subjective. I don't love Facebook but I appreciate that it's easy* to live without it. Can't say the same for Google's ecosystem when my gmail is increasingly tied to my identity. Can't say the same for Amazon when they have so much monopoly over supply chain that some things you literally can't obtain if you don't purchase through them. There's also Disney silently monopolizing creativity. Facebook manipulates people to keep them on their site to increase data collection and drive up ad revenue. Google put adsense everywhere on the internet, so they don't need to do anything manipulative to keep you on Google because they earn ad revenue and get your data wherever you go**.

Everyone I know who works at one of these companies is a great, smart, kind, talented person -- including those at Facebook. We need better consumer protections and to break up their monopolies.

* Hard to escape Facebook's online tracking but adding this to your host file should do it https://github.com/jmdugan/blocklists/blob/master/corporatio...

** Sorry for this hyperbole, it's only sites using adsense that are guilty and adblockers work wonders.

By manipulation, I meant profiting from dissemination of fake news or other harmful content. I don't think other tech giants come close. Though, I would agree that all of them abuse their dominant position against their users' interest in some form.