Increasing transparency through advertiser identity verification • Hacker News Board

Re: Increasing transparency through advertiser identity verification

#21

Post by javajosh » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:17 PM UTC

keiferski wrote: post #20

Prepare yourself for ads from amorphous organizations with names like The Committee to Re-Establish Democracy or The Project for a New American Freedom. (No idea if these are real, I just made them up.) I suppose it helps to see precisely who is paying for an advertisement, but I don’t think this is actually useful in a real sense. The only long-term solution is education: foster a sense of skepticism towards all adv…

> foster a sense of skepticism towards all advertising

Here, here. I would go further and say that human society needs a universal convention that flags paid speech as such, and gives people a clear protocol to filter any (or all) paid communication.

Re: Increasing transparency through advertiser identity verification

#22

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:21 PM UTC

corporateslave5 wrote: post #9

alibaba_x wrote: post #7

Interesting timing right before a U.S. election. Likely trying to avoid Russian disinformation like in 2016.

You realize they only spent 100k in Facebook ads in 2016?

At least someone gets a good ROI from Facebook ads.

Re: Increasing transparency through advertiser identity verification

#23

Post by disiplus » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:22 PM UTC

i think this is a great step. also we as a company dont have nothing against that, at least it would be more visible that some of our competition is faking a local presence.

Re: Increasing transparency through advertiser identity verification

#24

Post by frandroid » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:24 PM UTC

drewg123 wrote: post #13

This is interesting timing given the general decline of ad revenue due to the COVID economic slowdown. I'm surprised and impressed that they are making things harder for advertisers when then are probably fighting harder for every ad dollar.

They would rather establish a framework of proof that they control rather than have a more onerous and inflexible one imposed upon them by the EU. When large companies do due diligence to show accountability, it's less likely that a government will try to force them to do it.

Re: Increasing transparency through advertiser identity verification

#25

Post by Nextgrid » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:26 PM UTC

mankyd wrote: post #17

timeimp wrote: post #5

Would it possible for me to turn off all the ads from all the advertises? Hypothetically, of course!

They have/had this, but it hasn't proven terribly popular: https://contributor.google.com/ edit: I say "had" because I think it has changed forms over its lifetime. I think originally you could simply load up credits and it would cover ads across the web with blank images.

It would still track you though which is a bigger problem than the ads being visible.

Re: Increasing transparency through advertiser identity verification

#26

Post by alibaba_x » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:32 PM UTC

corporateslave5 wrote: post #9

alibaba_x wrote: post #7

Interesting timing right before a U.S. election. Likely trying to avoid Russian disinformation like in 2016.

You realize they only spent 100k in Facebook ads in 2016?

Yes I know, but the whole impeachment thing happened because of that modest amount nevertheless.

Re: Increasing transparency through advertiser identity verification

#27

Post by chatmasta » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:34 PM UTC

For those interested, Facebook already does something similar, and also has an "Ad Library" [0] where you can monitor ads related to "social issues, elections or politics." It's pretty interesting, worth checking it out.

[0] https://www.facebook.com/ads/library

Re: Increasing transparency through advertiser identity verification

#28

Post by 1f60c » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:36 PM UTC

chatmasta wrote: post #27

For those interested, Facebook already does something similar, and also has an "Ad Library" [0] where you can monitor ads related to "social issues, elections or politics." It's pretty interesting, worth checking it out. [0] https://www.facebook.com/ads/library

Google also has a website similar to Facebook's Ad Library: https://transparencyreport.google.com/political-ads/region/U...

Re: Increasing transparency through advertiser identity verification

#29

Post by kpmcc » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:38 PM UTC

keiferski wrote: post #20

Prepare yourself for ads from amorphous organizations with names like The Committee to Re-Establish Democracy or The Project for a New American Freedom. (No idea if these are real, I just made them up.) I suppose it helps to see precisely who is paying for an advertisement, but I don’t think this is actually useful in a real sense. The only long-term solution is education: foster a sense of skepticism towards all adv…

Education is certainly one part, but we could also shift business models away from advertising. Ads are a cancer on content and attention, and the fact that so much of the economy is centered around them is mind boggling.

Re: Increasing transparency through advertiser identity verification

#30

Post by keiferski » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:40 PM UTC

kpmcc wrote: post #29

keiferski wrote: post #20

Prepare yourself for ads from amorphous organizations with names like The Committee to Re-Establish Democracy or The Project for a New American Freedom. (No idea if these are real, I just made them up.) I suppose it helps to see precisely who is paying for an advertisement, but I don’t think this is actually useful in a real sense. The only long-term solution is education: foster a sense of skepticism towards all adv…

Education is certainly one part, but we could also shift business models away from advertising. Ads are a cancer on content and attention, and the fact that so much of the economy is centered around them is mind boggling.

Sure, I definitely agree. Unfortunately it seems unlikely in the short term: Google alone still makes ~85% of its revenue from ads.