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Meta is banning people from advertising after running ads for Python and Pandas

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Re: Meta is banning people from advertising after running ads for Python and Pandas

#61

Post by marcus_holmes »

shiroiuma wrote: post #6

Wow, this is incredibly stupid (on Meta's part). Way to shoot yourself in the foot. Is it just me, or does it seem like Facebook/Meta has always been much dumber about how to actually run a business than other big tech companies? I think they just got where they are because they filled a void with Facebook and took advantage of network effects. Nothing they've ever done has really seemed all that "good" to me overall…

I uninstalled the Facebook app, because it literally makes me depressed.

Messenger stopped working. I wasn't able to log in on Messenger (it just kept cycling around the same 3 login pages). I had to reinstall Facebook to get it working.

So, either:

1. Facebook developers are so shit at their job that they can't build and test a simple login page that works.

or

2. Facebook uses dark UI patterns to keep people using its products even when they explicitly don't want to.

Obviously it's 2. But what a dystopian nightmare. Facebook devs, how do you sleep at night?

Re: Meta is banning people from advertising after running ads for Python and Pandas

#62

Post by cozzyd »

kioleanu wrote: post #12

In opposition to what the author thinks, I do think that the appeal was viewed by a human (probably from an outsourced agency somewhere far away) who simply didn't have 1) the capacity to understand what the author is selling 2) time enough to read the appeal, research and understand the problem and 3) possibly sufficient control over the English language

Right, how likely is it that the people reviewing know anything about software.

Re: Meta is banning people from advertising after running ads for Python and Pandas

#63

Post by reuven »

kioleanu wrote: post #12

In opposition to what the author thinks, I do think that the appeal was viewed by a human (probably from an outsourced agency somewhere far away) who simply didn't have 1) the capacity to understand what the author is selling 2) time enough to read the appeal, research and understand the problem and 3) possibly sufficient control over the English language

Actually, they explicitly said (on some page, or in some e-mail) that both the original evaluation and the appeal were handled automatically. I can't find that evidence, but I remember reading it and saying, "OMG, you've got to be kidding me."

Based on what they've told me, I have every reason to believe that no human ever reviewed my case.

Re: Meta is banning people from advertising after running ads for Python and Pandas

#64

Post by saiya-jin »

andyjohnson0 wrote: post #45

Welcome to the future. Before too long this kind of bs will be an almost daily occurrence for most people who have to interact with businesses/institutions on the net. Highly automated inscrutable processes with hairtrigger banning logic and review paths that never lead to a human. Because the humans that survived the automation are too busy feeding the Algorithm to ever interact with the customers.

That's the cheap route, like car manufacturers slapping big glossy crappy tablet instead of 40 high quality physical knobs (really, have you ever seen any physical button not working on any car, even 15+years old? I didn't a single time, as long as we don't talk about wrecks).

Then you have premium companies with premium prices, where actual humans serve you. They'll be slower but you have chance for some empathy and non-standard solutions to your problems.

Re: Meta is banning people from advertising after running ads for Python and Pandas

#65

Post by reuven »

pr337h4m wrote: post #57

>That’s right: I teach courses in Python and Pandas. Never mind that the first is a programming language and the second is a library for data analysis in Python. Meta’s AI system noticed that I was talking about Python and Pandas, assumed that I was talking about the animals (not the technology), and banned me. If this is true, that is insanely embarrassing for a company that purports to be a sophisticated programmat…

Yes, indeed.

Re: Meta is banning people from advertising after running ads for Python and Pandas

#66

Post by reuven »

elorant wrote: post #5

Just create a new account and advertise with that. Or even a fake account. I know a lot of people who have dozens of fake accounts even for legitimate products and ads. Facebook is notorious for not providing any kind of support for its ad platform. Not to mention that they don't seem to do anything to stop fraudulent traffic.

One of the Meta employees suggested that I create a new business account. Except that I can't do that, because my personal account has been banned for life, as has any business account created through it.

So I could create a new account that's just for my business. And maybe I will. But ... what a pain, and I'm not sure the ROI is really that good.

Re: Meta is banning people from advertising after running ads for Python and Pandas

#67

Post by halukakin »

There are many digital marketing executives who are banned to advertise on Facebook. FB decides they did something wrong once, and now they cannot advertise anymore. So effectively they cannot find a job in digital advertising because Meta wants you to use your personal account for advertising even when you are working for a company. This needs to stop. Maybe this could be moved under the scope of "EU Digital Markets Act" with some effort.

Re: Meta is banning people from advertising after running ads for Python and Pandas

#68

Post by reuven »

mywacaday wrote: post #59
reuven wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, I don't know for sure that I was banned for Python. But it's the only information that I have so far, since Meta isn't telling me anything. And the other person confirmed that he had this problem multiple times. And it's true, you're only seeing one side of the story here. But I promise, I can't think of anything nefarious I've done that would get me banned. Well, aside from my crypto casino run by drug-smoking…

Would aa GDPR request be worth filing to try and glean some additional info?

I doubt it, but it's a fascinating idea.

Re: Meta is banning people from advertising after running ads for Python and Pandas

#69

Post by quietbritishjim »

I know I'm thinking about the wrong part of this article, but... even if the adverts really were about real pandas and pythons, the adverts were for courses in them. Am I not allowed to advertise a course on how to look after your python on Facebook? Or a course on the status of pandas in the wild? Even that seems very odd. (Maybe the adverts didn't read that way.)

Re: Meta is banning people from advertising after running ads for Python and Pandas

#70

Post by easyThrowaway »

I've experienced similar issues multiple times in the past with meta, especially while advertising french and italian restaurants whose names and menus, once automatically translated in english during the publishing checks, would trigger all kind of bans.

One of the most hilarious cases came up with southern-italian style braised fennels, whose internal machine-translation naming by meta was not exactly LGBTQ friendly.

As I said in a previous post, most of these cases were usually resolved trough the legal department of the agency, It was considered basically a requirement of being in the ad business.

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