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YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads

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Re: YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads

#191

Post by j-bos »

JanneVee wrote: post #133
hotpotamus wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is he supposed to do, create a google account and get premium instead? Yes? I've mostly quit watching YouTube (and really a lot of media) because the shear amount of it and the number of predatory dark patterns have just gotten to be too much for me (it's possible that I'm overly sensitive in some way). But if it's important to him, then maybe it's worth paying some money for the experience. Personally I'm try…

So I should just give up, have a talk about media habits with my parents and if they don't want to change, just hand YouTube the money? You freely admit that it is designed to be this bad and by giving them money actually just rewards their shitty behavior. I gave an example of a video showing how creators on YouTube can select which ads to show. Get-Rich-Quick is a category, YouTube could just take the decision to n…

Youtube clearly provides a valuable service one that is unique in world (moat or not). If you're concerned about rewarding bad behavior (scammy ads) doesn't it also make sense to factor rewarding good behavior (videos by anyone* on any topic imaginable)?

almost

Re: YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads

#192

Post by mavamaarten »

dspillett wrote: post #131
passwordoops wrote: post #5

They're all like that. A whole back I reported an obvious real estate scam using Wayne Gretzky and some Blue Jays player (I'm in Canada). The reply was it didn't break any policy. When ads are the primary source of revenue, there's zero incentive to police the platform

> They're all like that. Yep. I stopped bothering to report obvious scams on Facebook as any response I got was they didn't breach any standards (for others I got no response at all), yet I've had a comment removed because calling someone a numbskull was unduly rude/aggressive/whatever (I forget the exact complaint given). For a while I added comments details why it was so obvious the scam posts were scams, but this…

For Facebook though, I understand why they want the scammers to continue using their platform. Every scammer that uses facebook is an active user, which is a KPI they very much want to keep high.

Re: YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads

#193

Post by throw310822 »

Confirmed. I flagged yesterday the Elon Musk deep fake promoting some investment scam, and got this answer after a few hours:

"We’re writing to let you know that we reviewed your report (ID 1-3XXXXXXXXXX).

Here's what we found

We decided not to take this ad down. We found that the ad doesn’t go against Google’s policies, which prohibit certain content and practices that we believe to be harmful to users and the overall online ecosystem."

Re: YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads

#194

Post by mschuster91 »

Same here. The flood of ads I got recently pushing sketchy CFD trade platforms is goddamn annoying, and that's not even counting all the youtube channels pushing questionable stuff like Athletic Greens [2] or similar "quality" supplements and pills.

At least on linear TV, there was some quality assurance in the ad buyer departments. Youtube, Google, Meta, the countless "chumbox" players (Taboola, Outbrain and others [1]) - they all thrive on letting everyone do whatever the f..k they want, with barely any human in loop.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chumbox

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/dining/athletic-greens.ht...

Re: YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads

#195

Post by j-bos »

iteratethis wrote: post #94
GaryNumanVevo wrote: post #64

Twitter actually has some of the best ad oversight, almost entirely by accident too. Community Notes (formerly Birdwatch) lets users flag tweets that are misleading. Since Ads on Twitter are just normal tweets, they can be fact checked. Twitter's average ad quality has plummeted recently, but most of the scam ads I see have a massive user-added disclaimer outlining how it's a scam. I wonder how this affects the click…

I think when an ad is fact-checked and fails that test, it should become hidden. Even better would be to block the advertiser from the network or even seize their ad spent.

Seems like best of both worlds for scam ads with notes to still appear. The scammers keep paying the platform, user's learn how to spot scams via the notes, and the platform makes money.

Re: YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads

#197

Post by hotpotamus »

JanneVee wrote: post #184
hotpotamus wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So I should just give up I really do try not to be the perpetual downer here, but Google has nearly unlimited resources including psych PhDs on staff to influence peoples' behavior and I assume executives with black holes where their souls would normally be who are trying to satisfy that void with money, but can never do so. I guess the best I can say is that it's about picking your battles.

Look I know I'm screaming in the wind here. It is a comment on the state of YouTube ads. It's not that I have an illusion that someone in the hierarchy of Google is going to read my comments and take decisions that improves the situation. It is a thought and opinion on the direction of what Google has become. And personally I'm reducing my reliance on google. Next year I'm starting move subscriptions and other things…

You have my sympathy at least, and it's a good reminder that I probably need to get off gmail myself.

Famously, this is a place where FAANG employees have some representation, so I suspect that the comments do occasionally get read by people with at least some connection to the products. Increasingly, I wonder how they live with themselves; the older I get, the less any amount of money could get me to use psychological tricks on people in order to scam them.

Re: YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads

#198

Post by mschuster91 »

sys32768 wrote: post #118

Notice you don't see any scam ads featuring tobacco on YouTube. If you want to see Google enforce something, try running a tobacco ad anywhere on their platforms.

Partially, that is because the production, export, import, sale and advertising of tobacco is strictly regulated in most countries... there isn't any money to be made for scammers, and the illicit actors that do exist (e.g. counterfeiters or smugglers) don't want to attract open attention or paper trails.

Re: YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads

#199

Post by kidsil »

It's striking how history repeats itself. Just like TV and newspapers eventually faced regulations to prevent scam ads, the internet has been in a similar bind for at least a decade. The principles of law should extend to all mediums, yet it seems we're at a stalemate with federal regulations adapting to the digital age. This should've been handled back in 2012.

Re: YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads

#200

Post by ndriscoll »

dado3212 wrote: post #160

YouTube does not have the scale to manually review every time someone flags an ad. HN community believes that “oh, but MY report is high signal” which may be true, but user reports as a whole are not high signal. So instead it’s going through some ML classifier first. An automatic answer saying “this doesn’t go against policy” does not mean that it escalated to YT staff who carefully considered the ad and said “actua…

Google should be reviewing all ads they show, and should absolutely be liable for the content, especially if they're alerted to the fact that it's a scam (which makes them not just negligent but an accessory).
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