<story><title>How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook</title><url>https://themarkup.org/citizen-browser/2021/05/06/how-big-pharma-finds-sick-users-on-facebook</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>moksly</author><text>“If you’re a drug manufacturer looking for patients”.&lt;p&gt;Maybe I’m just too Scandinavian to understand, but wouldn’t it be the other way around?&lt;p&gt;Now I also wonder if I should see a doctor. I’ve been getting a lot of “is your will in order” commercials from law firms on Facebook recently. I sure hope big tech advertising doesn’t know something I don’t.</text></comment>
<story><title>How pharmaceutical companies find sick users on Facebook</title><url>https://themarkup.org/citizen-browser/2021/05/06/how-big-pharma-finds-sick-users-on-facebook</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>dools</author><text>The article seems to suggest this is a bad thing, but my first reaction is &amp;quot;fantastic&amp;quot;. Pharmaceutical companies create life saving medicines and then use advanced social media targeting to locate the people that need them.&lt;p&gt;The only bad thing about it is if those people targeted can&amp;#x27;t afford the medication, which is why healthcare needs to be a universal right.&lt;p&gt;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&amp;#x27;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).&lt;p&gt;Pharmaceutical companies are responsible for developing vaccines for a global pandemic at light speed. They&amp;#x27;re great! Let&amp;#x27;s celebrate Big Pharma!&lt;p&gt;But let&amp;#x27;s also make sure that the gains from these amazing advances in technology are shared equitably.&lt;p&gt;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&amp;#x27;t so commercially driven.&lt;p&gt;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?</text></comment>