Facebook is cooked

From peak Facebook to “returned to nothing”

• Many older users recall a “golden era” of casual, low‑effort sharing among real‑life friends and family (kids, trips, mundane life) with little commercial motive.
• That phase is widely seen as over: people stopped posting, social graphs decayed, and for some the result is less connection than pre‑social‑media phone‑call culture.

Where social interaction moved

• For close ties, people report shifting to group chats: WhatsApp, Signal, iMessage, SMS, Telegram, Discord, GroupMe, Slack, etc.
• Instagram is used for light social presence and memes; real conversation mostly happens in private groups.
• Some note that nothing fully replaced Facebook events/class groups; coordination now feels fragmented.

Algorithmic feeds, AI slop, and thirst traps

• Many who log in infrequently see feeds dominated by AI‑generated “slop”: thirst traps, fake feel‑good or outrage stories, clickbait reels, and low‑quality meme content.
• Several observe that male or “cold start” accounts default to sexualized or ragebait content regardless of past behavior.
• Others argue the algorithm can be tamed with heavy curation (“not interested,” blocks), but admit it quickly reverts if vigilance lapses.

Divergent user experiences

• A nontrivial minority say their feeds are still mostly friends, niche groups, hobbies, local news, and relevant ads; they see little or no AI slop.
• Explanation offered: if you and your network stayed active and interact heavily with friend content, the feed remains usable; dormant or sparse networks get the “slop firehose.”

Bots, propaganda, and political radicalization

• Widespread reports of spam, scams, AI fake news, and state or partisan propaganda (including CCP and far‑right content) in feeds and ads.
• Some describe older relatives being effectively radicalized or detached from reality by endless ragebait and conspiratorial content.
• Skepticism over how much apparent engagement is real vs. paid or coordinated botnets.

Marketplace, Groups, and remaining utility

• Marketplace and local/interest Groups are repeatedly cited as the only compelling reasons to use Facebook; in many regions they’ve displaced Craigslist and forums.
• Frustration that valuable community knowledge is siloed there and in Discord‑style spaces, not on the open web.

Global, economic, and policy angles

• Outside US/EU, Facebook (plus WhatsApp/Instagram) is often the internet, tightly integrated with mobile plans and local business.
• Commenters link the “enshittification” to ad‑driven incentives: maximizing engagement leads inevitably to slop and outrage.
• Ideas floated: regulating algorithmic feeds (e.g., Section 230 reform), banning recommender‑driven “newsfeeds,” or culturally abandoning ad‑funded social media.