How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook
The article seems to suggest this is a bad thing, but my first reaction is "fantastic". Pharmaceutical companies create life saving medicines and then use advanced social media targeting to locate the people that need them.<p>The only bad thing about it is if those people targeted can't afford the medication, which is why healthcare needs to be a universal right.<p>People love to bitch about Big Pharma but I have a magical little blue tool that completely relieves my asthma, and I can buy them with absolutely no trouble at the pharmacy for about $6. My brother got diagnosed with MS recently. My aunt got diagnosed with MS 40 years ago. Thanks to the research that happened in the last 40 years, my brother's experience with MS is worlds apart (mostly because we live in Australia and he has free access to tens of thousands of dollars of treatment).<p>Pharmaceutical companies are responsible for developing vaccines for a global pandemic at light speed. They're great! Let's celebrate Big Pharma!<p>But let's also make sure that the gains from these amazing advances in technology are shared equitably.<p>And maybe, just maybe, if the medical companies find they need to use Facebook to shift their product, we should be looking at a more formal and closely regulated method of distribution that isn't so commercially driven.<p>I mean, the private sector is great at commercialisation, but is it really the be all and end all when it comes to such a crucial social function as healthcare?