Anthony Hilton: Facebook and China - old before they’re rich
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Someone said that the challenge for China is that it will grow old before it grows rich. The long-term consequence of the one-child policy is that the proportion of young people in the economy will soon shrink significantly, meaning the country has a far bigger problem supporting its soon-to-be-retired than we do.
A row erupted this week over the use by advertisers of personal photographs uploaded to social media, where the company proposed to take a fee from the advertiser but give nothing to the person whose picture it was. This is just the latest twist in a souring relationship between Facebook and its millions of users, almost all driven by the company's search to find ways to make money. One can see why it wants too, but too many of its initiatives seem to leave its users thinking what they now have is not what they signed up to.
Part of me suspects Facebook will be like China: It will grow old before it gets rich. It may never generate anything like the revenues its stock-market valuation implies, and at some point it will be replaced in the public affections by whatever is the next big idea.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments