Now Facebook is a Bill Collector!

Published On September 17, 2021 | By Tom Huskerson | News and Analysis

Facebook is the most relentless and invasive collector of information the world has ever known. To be honest they know a helluva lot more about you that they need to. Because you told them! Now guess what? Facebook is going into the bill collecting business with all that information!

Recently Facebook announced a new program that opens up a new front on your privacy by turning into a giant debt collector. The program works like any other debt collecting business. Dubbed Facebook Invoice Fast Track, the company steps in and buys a company’s outstanding invoices. Just like regular bill collectors. Usually this is a bill that has gone unpaid for quite sometime. Why else would a company unload the bad debt to Facebook? Now the delinquent customer must pay Facebook directly.

Facebook’s announcement read; “The program provides affordable, immediate cash for pay that your customers owe you.” According to Facebook the company will take a “one-time low fee” of one percent of the invoice value. The bill collection program is targeted at businesses that are “majority-owned, operated and controlled by racial or ethnic minorities, women, U.S. military veterans, LGBTQ+ people or individuals with disabilities.”

Now is Facebook answering any questions about how it intends to collects any fees other than the stated one percent? Facebook was also asked who, exactly, will be doing the collecting, a Facebook employee or department? A third party? What happens when a bill never gets paid. There were no immediate answers from Facebook.

Well do you think it’s a coincidence that beginning Nov. 30, 2021, debt collectors will legally be allowed to direct message people on social media platforms (Facebook)  in an effort to chase down cash?

Facebook is encouraging these businesses to “Take control of your cash flow” and “Break free from waiting for payment.”

But this is getting more interesting. Facebook claims it will be careful about which types of business are eligible for this type of financial assistance. If you can call it that.

Facebook pointed out that, “Generally, eligible companies must also have invoices with corporate or government customers that have an investment-grade rating. Which means Facebook intends to get paid by corporations that have the money to pay minority government contractors. Which is the real gist of the deal.

 

Breaking It Down

Let me explain something to you. Facebook cannot be trusted. This program is only indirectly intended to help the people Facebook says it wants to help. And I can prove it. First of all ask yourself how many businesses are “majority-owned, operated and controlled by racial or ethnic minorities, women, U.S. military veterans, LGBTQ+ people or individuals with disabilities?” Now how many of those “have invoices with corporate or government customers that have an investment-grade rating,” and yet refuse or are slow to pay? The answer…not a helluva whole lot! So what is Facebook doing?

Facebook is getting ready to get into the bill collecting business in a big way and this is the pilot program. Do you think for minute a company with an “investment grade rating” is going around stiffing small businesses? Or is the government stiffing these minority businesses? And do you think these companies are afraid of Facebook? Ask yourself, what company is going to be embarrassed into paying because Facebook posted something on their timeline that everyone could see? Very few because these companies pay their bills. But what about you? Facebook could use the information they have on you to make you pay up. They know who your are, where you are, who you work for, where you shop, what car you drive, who your friends are, where you eat, drink and sleep and with whom. They have enough information, which means power, to make sure you fork over every cent you owe…with interest.

Let me show you where I think  this is going. If you are a deadbeat parent that is behind on your child support or just refuse to pay and you think you have disappeared and no one can find you, think again. If Facebook can find the parents of children given up for adoption they can find deadbeat dads!

Facebook could suspend your account. They could cleverly insert things in your timeline to suggest that you are less than reliable or trustworthy. They could provide another bill collector with sensitive information they would not normally have access to. For example, a bill collector meets you at the airport before you get on that plane to Jamaica to collect. They know you have the cash, why else would you be at the airport heading to the Caribbean? To put it simply this is an “OH SHIT!” moment for a lot of people.

 

 

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About The Author

Tom Huskerson Bio Born in Richmond Virginia Tom Huskerson is a military veteran who settled in California after his discharge. Tom attended Santa Barbara City College where he began his writing career as a campus reporter. He worked as an intern news reporter for the Santa Barbara News-Press writing feature stories before moving on to San Francisco. At San Francisco State University Tom studied broadcast communications and began to focus on the Internet. He completed his graduate thesis on Internet advertising. Tom was the first student to ever focus on the Internet as a graduate student at San Francisco State University. After graduation he went to work for Zona Research in California’s Silicone Valley. As a research associate Tom supported senior analyst writing on the latest developments in the Internet industry. During the dot com boom Tom worked for several web businesses as a market researcher and analyst. As a writer and researcher Tom has authored various technical works including a training program for Charles Schwab security. Other projects included professional presentations on workplace violence and hiring security contractors. Tom has also written both fiction and non-fiction works and blogging for a travel website. He has published two books of short stories and completed two novels. Tom is the owner of Scribe of Life Literature and EbonyCandle.com. Tom is not the chief editor for the OnTechStreet. com. A news and information blog that focuses on tech news for African-Americans. The blog is the result of his desire to inform the African American community of the dangers and benefits of the cyber age. In his blog Tom reports on information security, new and analysis, scams and hoaxes, legal happenings and various topics that arise from the age of information. Tom believes that technology is a necessary tool for black people and they should know what is happening. Tom writes believing that techno speak is for the professional and that valuable information can be communicated using plain language. As a result he has embraced the motto, Less Tech, More Knowledge.

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