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Facebook Has Been Showing Military Gear Ads Next to “Insurrection” Posts

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Re: Facebook Has Been Showing Military Gear Ads Next to “Insurrection” Posts

#61

Post by Aperocky »

bitbuilder wrote: post #48
rreichel03 wrote: post #7

As an anecdote, since July they've started showing me ads for body armor almost nonstop whenever I actually open the app. Just the other day it was a body armor ad then an ad for a tactical communication earpiece.

As another anecdote, I've had the same ad targeting for this last week or so. (Which is really unfortunate timing.) At some point I must've clicked on the wrong article while seeing what the "other side" was up to. And now my feed is full of tacticool insurrectionist chic. The most disconcerting to me was an ad showcasing a "tactical hooded trench coat"[0], with the model holding an AK in the FB ad. I mean, nobody is…

Their algorithm is just fine, you never get 100% accuracy in ML anyways.

People put those ads there and maintained them there for a reason, and that reason is those ads are working.

Re: Facebook Has Been Showing Military Gear Ads Next to “Insurrection” Posts

#62

Post by typenil »

lesstenseflow wrote: post #39
prophetjohn wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no Facebook fan or apologist, but I do think there's a distinction between failing to moderate perfectly (or even well) and refusing to even attempt to moderate.

Parler did have moderation. What platform are you referring to here?

Referring to the straw man platform, obviously.

Re: Facebook Has Been Showing Military Gear Ads Next to “Insurrection” Posts

#63

Post by whoknew1122 »

fvdessen wrote: post #52
RIMR wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parler rented all their infrastructure from companies that get to choose how their infrastructure gets used. Private companies can run themselves as they please. Facebook owns all their own infrastructure and gets the final say on how their infrastructure is used. Private companies can run themselves as they please. If you violate the terms of your rental agreement, your landlord gets to kick you out. If you can't af…

I think it's obvious that private companies should not be able to 'run themselves as they please'. Also in my country landlords can't kick renters out if they disagree politically. I think that's a good thing. Maybe similar regulation should apply to infrastructure providers.

Parler wasn't kicked off AWS because of a political disagreement. It was kicked off for multiple terms of service violations and unwillingness to adequately moderate its platform to ensure that further ToS violations didn't occur.

Surely in your can get kicked out of your rental if you violate the lease. Especially if your landlord sits down with you and discusses the issues and you still can't commit to not violating your lease.

I can get evicted from my rental if I don't have renter's insurance. Let's suppose my landlord sat down with me and said: '[name], you are in violation of your lease agreement without renter's insurance.'

If my response is 'well, I'll find someone to volunteer to look for renter's insurance for me', I would expect to be evicted. And I'm not even facilitating or enabling people to openly advocate and plan for violent overthrow of a democracy on my property.

Re: Facebook Has Been Showing Military Gear Ads Next to “Insurrection” Posts

#66

Post by nataz »

rreichel03 wrote: post #7

As an anecdote, since July they've started showing me ads for body armor almost nonstop whenever I actually open the app. Just the other day it was a body armor ad then an ad for a tactical communication earpiece.

I'm seeing adds for illegal pistol and rifle suppressors (aka "silencers") only barely disguised as "fuel filters" and "solvent traps".

The companies selling the suppressor kits claim they are legitimate auto parts. They clearly aren't.

Some people have claimed that it would be legal to buy these if you applied for a license to manufacture a suppressor, but good luck arguing that in federal court, especially since these are manufactured in China. Both the import of these goods, and buying without the correct federal license are felonies....

And yet they are all over Facebook. And people are buying them.

Here is the crazy thing. I enjoy shooting as a hobby, and could understand if FB chose to show me adds for legitimate firearm accessory companies.

I am not a car guy.

Either FB add targeting is terrible, or they can connect the dots between these obviously illegal "solvent traps" and people who are interested in firearms.

This isn't a post made by a random FB user, it's an ad on their ad network on their platform. At what point does FB facebook become culpable?

Re: Facebook Has Been Showing Military Gear Ads Next to “Insurrection” Posts

#67

Post by brundolf »

The unintuitive thing here (for the general population at least, possibly not the HN crowd) is that almost certainly nobody at Facebook saw, and approved (much less designed) this marketing strategy. It naturally emerged from the goals the system has been given. That doesn't excuse it: in fact, it indicts automated targeted-advertisement as a category.

This software is working exactly as it was designed to. I'm sure somebody could (and probably will, now that it's made the news) add a rule that makes an exception in this case. But this is going to keep happening, and keep happening, and keep happening, as long as we continue allowing systems to automate our content-feeds, optimized for getting us to spend money.

Re: Facebook Has Been Showing Military Gear Ads Next to “Insurrection” Posts

#68

Post by criddell »

fvdessen wrote: post #52
RIMR wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parler rented all their infrastructure from companies that get to choose how their infrastructure gets used. Private companies can run themselves as they please. Facebook owns all their own infrastructure and gets the final say on how their infrastructure is used. Private companies can run themselves as they please. If you violate the terms of your rental agreement, your landlord gets to kick you out. If you can't af…

I think it's obvious that private companies should not be able to 'run themselves as they please'. Also in my country landlords can't kick renters out if they disagree politically. I think that's a good thing. Maybe similar regulation should apply to infrastructure providers.

Can a baker in your country decline to decorate a cake with a message of hate?

Re: Facebook Has Been Showing Military Gear Ads Next to “Insurrection” Posts

#69

Post by throwaway0a5e »

brundolf wrote: post #67

The unintuitive thing here (for the general population at least, possibly not the HN crowd) is that almost certainly nobody at Facebook saw, and approved (much less designed) this marketing strategy. It naturally emerged from the goals the system has been given. That doesn't excuse it: in fact, it indicts automated targeted-advertisement as a category. This software is working exactly as it was designed to. I'm sure…

Exactly. If you joke about nods and stuffed dogs full of tannerite all day of course the algo is gonna try and show you adds for level "wish.com" armor plates and bulk ammunition because it's job is to show stuff to people who will buy that stuff and you've fit the profile of people who buy cheap body armor and bulk ammo to a tee.

People preparing for revolt buy revolt supplies, water is wet, more news at 11.

Re: Facebook Has Been Showing Military Gear Ads Next to “Insurrection” Posts

#70

Post by _y5hn »

brundolf wrote: post #67

The unintuitive thing here (for the general population at least, possibly not the HN crowd) is that almost certainly nobody at Facebook saw, and approved (much less designed) this marketing strategy. It naturally emerged from the goals the system has been given. That doesn't excuse it: in fact, it indicts automated targeted-advertisement as a category. This software is working exactly as it was designed to. I'm sure…

More of privatize profits, socialize costs. This is the end game to Capitalism, and it can't fix itself.
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