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Facebook to let users turn off political adverts

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Facebook to let users turn off political adverts

#291

Post by komali2 »

talentedcoin wrote: post #283
ncallaway wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you find getting an ID to be a significant burden? Probably not. There exist people for whom this is a real barrier. Do you have a job that allows you to take a day off work if you need to? Probably. There exist people for whom this is a real barrier. Do you have a job that doesn't require you to work on weekends? Probably. There exist people for whom this is a real barrier. It's hard to ask someone to just CARE m…

So, OP points out that maybe a commitment of one night every few years isn’t so unreasonable, and your response is to berate them for their privilege? What alternative do you suggest?

Mail in voting and thousands of in person voting booths across the state.

Berate is a strong word to describe what I read imo. I think it was more a suggestion to put one's self in another's shoes.

If you believe for example that a caucus is not too high a burden of voting for anyone in America because credit card debt exists, I personally guarantee to you that this is due either to a lack of experience in the struggle some Americans face, or to a lack of imagination.

If you actually wanna know, it's easy - check out "Evicted" from your local library.

Re: Facebook to let users turn off political adverts

#292

Post by banads »

bhupy wrote: post #272
dimator wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I find it frustrating and damaging to democracy that politics is viewed as something dirty. Politics should be just a domain of problem solving and discussion like programming, home improvement, or cooking - except that everybody should have a say since it affects everybody. Why do we assume everybody in politics has sinister intentions? Because politics, at least at the top levels, has been perverted by lobbying.…

> they see that fundraising for reelection is their #1 goal, full stop. A minor nit pick: I think you're correct that reelection is their #1 goal, but fundraising is only useful if the people that ultimately vote for you feel as though you are meeting their needs. No amount of money can convince a voter to vote for someone with whom they don't align ideologically.

>fundraising is only useful if the people that ultimately vote for you feel as though you are meeting their needs. No amount of money can convince a voter to vote for someone with whom they don't align ideologically.

False, see Cambridge Analytica.

Re: Facebook to let users turn off political adverts

#293

Post by arethuza »

cwhiz wrote: post #161
macspoofing wrote: post #109

It's a good feature from an individual perspective. It's not a good feature if you don't like cultural bubbles forming. Democrats will block Republican ads, Republicans will block Democrat ads - will that lead to a better world when Republicans can't reach Democrat voters or vice versa? I find this focus (attack?) on political advertising on social media platforms by traditional media companies to be self-serving and…

You can target Facebook ads with surgical precision to manipulate people exactly the way you want. This is exactly what Cambridge Analytica did. You cannot target people with such precision in traditional advertising. I don’t think it’s unfair to say social media advertising and data collection is the biggest risk to democracy that we have ever faced.

The other thing that is notable about that kind of precise targetting is that nobody other than the recipients and the advertiser know these ads exist and what their contents were.

Re: Facebook to let users turn off political adverts

#294

Post by elicash »

duxup wrote: post #265

How do they determine what is 'political'? In common language usage I see folks describing everything as 'political'.

There's info here:

https://www.facebook.com/business/help/167836590566506?id=28...

But that doesn't fully capture it. They also have definitions of social issues, which is a subset of this shorthand of political ads:

https://www.facebook.com/business/help/214754279118974?id=28...

Here's how those ads are reviewed:

https://www.facebook.com/business/help/313752069181919?id=28...

If you go into the United States at that last link, you can see further definitions by issue. So, civil rights, or education, or guns.

Re: Facebook to let users turn off political adverts

#295

Post by avalys »

dave5104 wrote: post #290
avalys wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because voters are too stupid to tell fact from fiction, and need their betters to protect them from misinformation and make sure they are only exposed to approved viewpoints?

> Because voters are too stupid to tell fact from fiction Education on critical thinking skills is a problem in the US, in my opinion. I don't think that needs to lead to 1984-esque "approved viewpoints", though.

If that’s true, I’d say that’s the biggest underlying risk to democracy, not targeted advertising.

Re: Facebook to let users turn off political adverts

#296

Post by TLightful »

macspoofing wrote: post #109

It's a good feature from an individual perspective. It's not a good feature if you don't like cultural bubbles forming. Democrats will block Republican ads, Republicans will block Democrat ads - will that lead to a better world when Republicans can't reach Democrat voters or vice versa? I find this focus (attack?) on political advertising on social media platforms by traditional media companies to be self-serving and…

>>It's not a good feature if you don't like cultural bubbles forming.

I think you'll find the horse has bolted on that.

You'll not catch me dead on Facebook, ever. But the feature to turn off political ads sounds great.

Re: Facebook to let users turn off political adverts

#297

Post by dfxm12 »

skybrian wrote: post #251
macspoofing wrote: post #109

It's a good feature from an individual perspective. It's not a good feature if you don't like cultural bubbles forming. Democrats will block Republican ads, Republicans will block Democrat ads - will that lead to a better world when Republicans can't reach Democrat voters or vice versa? I find this focus (attack?) on political advertising on social media platforms by traditional media companies to be self-serving and…

How many Facebook ads even target people in the opposite party? I have only seen fundraising ads for Democrats. The ads seem to be reinforcing cultural bubbles. It seems like targeting people committed to the other side wouldn't be a good use of campaign funds? With low voter participation rates, there is a lot more to be gained from increasing turnout for your own side.

In 2016, I saw ads for both D's and R's running for president and senate.

The primary elections aren't totally over yet. I'll bet come November you have a different experience.

Re: Facebook to let users turn off political adverts

#298

Post by harikb »

macspoofing wrote: post #109

It's a good feature from an individual perspective. It's not a good feature if you don't like cultural bubbles forming. Democrats will block Republican ads, Republicans will block Democrat ads - will that lead to a better world when Republicans can't reach Democrat voters or vice versa? I find this focus (attack?) on political advertising on social media platforms by traditional media companies to be self-serving and…

Targeted advertising literally made propaganda 10 times cheaper. This means I can spare a few bucks and target whatever sh*t I want at whoever I like. I don't need to a big business with a big budget. Most orgs who have an agenda can easily throw a few thousand dollars to push a narrative. Not all of them can afford a TV ad at Prime time (at least TV ad on a network anyone is watching).

Re: Facebook to let users turn off political adverts

#300

Post by s_y_n_t_a_x »

Dumblydorr wrote: post #153
fbelzile wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually took this a step further and un-followed all of my friends. It took me more than a few hundred clicks, but Facebook now shows me a completely empty news feed. There's no ads either, although I'm not sure if that's because of uBlock Origin or if it's because there's not enough posts to stick ads in-between. As soon as there's another service I can use as a modern Rolodex, I'll be using that instead. I think…

Why doesn't Google do it? They already have gmail and chrome, I could see Googledex heavily populated from their existing data.

They tried with Google+, there's was nothing stopping people from using Google to socialize, no-one wants to.
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