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

lerner.co.il

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

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would be the alternative here? Meta bans people from selling live animals or bans them from selling programming courses?

I don't think it is stated anywhere that the ban was the result of the thing that was being advertised . > This review found inauthentic behavior or violations of our Advertising Policies or Community Guidelines There could be thousands of other things.

Sure would be nice if they'd actually lay out what rule(s) were broken then, I guess.

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

#242
Extrapolate this type of "unfortunate incident" to medicine, finance, insurance, policing, education, corporate hiring etc. where automation and "AI" is supposed to slash costs and improve efficiency and ponder what kind of society we are heading towards and why.

There is nothing wrong with using technology to empower humans (in this case Meta employees) to be more efficient in processing information. But removing the human from the loop in matters that affect other humans (whether in small or major ways) is a disastrous direction.

Coincidentally on the frontpage of the Financial Times today: "Meta’s Yann LeCun argues against premature AI regulation".

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

#243
post #47

The whole issue around not telling you what rule you broke "because then you might work around it" is total BS. It's like a company I complained to the other day because they didn't label one of the inputs on their password reset form because "it would help a hacker know what to type in it" (it was the password reset password they expected but you wouldn't know). How much quicker would this be resolved if the first A…

In 1984 they don't have laws, only crimes, so whatever you do, you have to guess if it is illegal and will be punished or not. It is on purpose to keep the population in constant fear

Em, this is a private company. I see what you mean, but this hardly points to some dystopia.

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

#244

>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…

I think it'd be embarrassing if the tech was making this sort of mistake in a high % of cases.

Anecdotally, that's the only account I've read of this kind of error.

Not defending Facebook, they ought to deploy humans in the loop.

But saying the tech is embarrassing misses how machine learning works. It will always make mistakes, and the kind of mistakes that seem silly from a human perspective.

That's because, well, these systems aren't human.

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

#245

>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…

What's wrong with talking about animals anyway? Truly bizarre.

You can talk about them on FB, just can't advertise trading them.

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

#246
post #47

The whole issue around not telling you what rule you broke "because then you might work around it" is total BS. It's like a company I complained to the other day because they didn't label one of the inputs on their password reset form because "it would help a hacker know what to type in it" (it was the password reset password they expected but you wouldn't know). How much quicker would this be resolved if the first A…

I'm not sure where the threshold is for spending. I have an account that was spending over $500K/yr on Facebook ads and we were blocked by AI with no recourse for over 6 months before we finally found a human who was able to reverse it.

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

#247
post #44

AIs and other opaque processes making decisions are incredibly frustrating. I'm still wondering why my tea-of-the-month business [0] got turned down by Stripe when I incorporated an LLC (technically a Godo Kaisha, as it is incorporated in Japan). It came as a surprise as it was perfectly fine by them for as long as it was a sole proprietorship. Which is why I strongly suspect the rejection came from an AI. At the tim…

> when I incorporated an LLC An LLC can’t be incorporated. If you say you had an Inc when you had an LLC is a good cause of rejection.

I didn’t know the nuance in English.

Although in this case it’s neither an Inc. nor an LLC: it’s a 合同会社. That’s what I wrote on the form, obviously.

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

#248

90% of these posts are just sob stories because they fucked up and he fucked up at least with "waiting a year". Makes absolutely no sense to me.

I wish this was the case. My experience is similar to OP.

I’m sure that some people made some mistake. I accept that. But I can’t accept handing out life bans for mistakes made. That’s not a town square should work. Sure we could use a different advertising platform but there aren’t that many.

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

#249
post #182

Out of interest, what was the text title of the ad? and which image did you use to advertise? I'm not defending Meta and I agree that AI shouldn't used to review appeals, but the title is clearly a clickbait. Based on the article, they banned you because AI thought you're trading live animals not because you're teaching Python. So I'm curious to see the original title and ad image.

I have no idea which ad caused me trouble, or when. The ban happened in June 2022, and I noticed it in July 2023. The most recent ads I ran were probably 2-3 years previous to that, and to the best of my recollection, they used videos of me and/or stock photos that Facebook officially offered and approved.
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