YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads • Hacker News Board

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

#231

Post by callalex » Tue, Dec 12, 2023, 5:11 PM UTC

verdverm wrote: post #126

JanneVee wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So basically I'm supposed to pay protection money? Yeah, I don't give into extortion...

You can see it as extortion or... Paying for a product instead of being the product. Huge quality of life improvement. How is it different from paying for Netflix and similar?

You’re still the product. YouTube screwed up their monetization scheme so badly that any content worth watching still inserts its own non-Google ads directly into the videos. So I would be paying to remove ads and…still see ads.

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

#232

Post by tremon » Tue, Dec 12, 2023, 5:12 PM UTC

klvino wrote: post #202

mywacaday wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the Irish Tánaiste (US VP equivalent) and former Taoiseach (President equivalent) has to go to court and looses when he tries to find out from google who is advertising using his identity you know the whole think is a sham that has to be protected at all costs, https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2023/12/06/tanai...

In contrast. A third party created a bogus profile of a global brand and began releasing unfavorable content as though they were the brand. The global brand leveraged their relationship with Google to shutdown the profile (which could be labeled as satirical). Google went on to provide the private account and contact info of the third party posting. It was discovered the third-party was a subcontractor/vendor to the…

I'm sorry, but this is unparseable to me. Who did what now?

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

#233

Post by sonicanatidae » Tue, Dec 12, 2023, 5:13 PM UTC

verdverm wrote: post #218

sonicanatidae wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not both? -Every corporation in the world.

yup, I don't see YouTube as an outlier in this regard I do really enjoy my ad free YouTube, 8 years and counting, the $20 / month for 5 accounts is very much worth it

I piggyback on a friend's account, for a small fee, so likewise.

I also run pi-hole at home, because while I understand the need for ads, I'm done with 23 ads, 15 flyouts, 1 video that will play in the corner until the end of time even though you obviously scrolled past it with zero intention of viewing it, 4 animated gifs, a pop-up chatbot window, etc. etc. etc.

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

#234

Post by tremon » Tue, Dec 12, 2023, 5:14 PM UTC

staunton wrote: post #213

bluGill wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is incentive, but they don't realize it. I know that online ads are often enough scams, so I won't buy anything from those ads. I do have to take effort to ensure that they don't effect me anyway (hint from basic psychology: they do, but I can make that effect less). If they did some work to ensure ads were not scams - I've seen ads for a number of interesting things that I intentionally did not buy because odd…

Most people believe they themselves cannot be influenced by ads "at all". If they were right, nobody would bother making ads.

And you can prove this, how?

If the people making ads can be influenced by ads, why would they ever stop making them? It works for them, doesn't it?

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

#235

Post by IggleSniggle » Tue, Dec 12, 2023, 5:14 PM UTC

TremendousJudge wrote: post #78

Takennickname wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are almost irrelevant to the conversation. The scammers only need 100 people to believe them from the potentially millions of people who view their ad to make it profitable. You are not grasping the scale of the matter.

GPs argument is the opposite of this: it's not about the scammers, but about the legit brands. The same way Pepsi doesn't want to get their ads shown over somebody discussing STDs or something of the sort, they probably also don't want to get their ads shown next to scams, since it makes the product kinda seem like a scam by association.

It also increases the cost of the ad, though, by introducing more buyer competition for the available slot. And a higher cost per available slot is good for the seller AND for the middlemen involved in the transaction.

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

#236

Post by callalex » Tue, Dec 12, 2023, 5:15 PM UTC

verdverm wrote: post #218

sonicanatidae wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not both? -Every corporation in the world.

yup, I don't see YouTube as an outlier in this regard I do really enjoy my ad free YouTube, 8 years and counting, the $20 / month for 5 accounts is very much worth it

We’re going to get to the section of this video about ad-free YouTube, but first, a message from our sponsor, VPNOfTheMonth!

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

#237

Post by mgraczyk » Tue, Dec 12, 2023, 5:15 PM UTC

notpachet wrote: post #153

verdverm wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can see it as extortion or... Paying for a product instead of being the product. Huge quality of life improvement. How is it different from paying for Netflix and similar?

> Paying for a product instead of being the product. You're still the product. You think they aren't still collecting info on what you watch and associating that with your google account for cross-marketing elsewhere on the web?

You can opt out of that without paying anything

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

#238

Post by TheRealPomax » Tue, Dec 12, 2023, 5:15 PM UTC

alacode wrote: post #224

Vrondi wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Install uBlock Origin on Firefox for him. Educate him not to click ads. Ever. If you emphasize long enough that clicking an ad can lose him his bank account and entire identity, it can sink in. I've spent years on this with my parents. "Yes, Dad, YouTube is out to get you, because they want money from advertisers, and they are happily selling your safety to advertisers."

I'm in my early 60's, I guess when I was young I'd have called me elderly. I however, have been a technologist since I was around 9 years old, got it from my Dad. I'd say most my age even if not into technology aren't averse to it or unaware of it. But, there are definitely some elderly who really don't get technology at all and there are some in their 20's who are the same way. Those individuals need to be protected…

No, the onus should be on the law, because corporations will do nothing "for th greater good" if they're not forced to do so. The onus is on the individual to help other individuals around them that need it, and on the individual to petition their law makers to do what needs to be done.

Putting the onus on the corporations is the one thing that's guaranteed, with a long and storied proven track record, of not working.

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

#239

Post by bambax » Tue, Dec 12, 2023, 5:16 PM UTC

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #79

ForkMeOnTinder wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's even worse: the incentive is to police the creators, not the advertisers. Youtube will bend over backwards for advertisers whose "brand safety" team doesn't want their product to appear next to a swear word, and demonetize/strike/etc those creators. But the ad content itself isn't policed nearly as relentlessly.

You'd think that creators making people want to use the site would be important, but unfortunately YouTube is a monopoly and is addictive, so content is more or less fungible from Google's perspective. If you aren't viewing ads on creator A's content, you'll probably be viewing them on creator B's content instead. It's not like other streaming services where there is real competition and losing particular content wou…

> YouTube is a monopoly and is addictive

Youtube is indeed a monopoly -- but it's not actually addictive. Since they started this war against adblockers I have found that I can perfectly live without it.

When I absolutely would like to watch an informative video (for example, about how to fix something on my bike, etc.), I first try to open the video in a private window (with ublock on); if that also doesn't work I try to use yt-dlp.

But I have completely stopped mindlessly watching videos that are not the result of a search.

There's nothing necessary about youtube.

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

#240

Post by TheWoodsy » Tue, Dec 12, 2023, 5:16 PM UTC

I used to see these exact videos on twitch.tv for months during non US peak times. They were number one in viewers for about 15 minutes until they were reported and nuked. Refresh another five minutes later and they'd be back at number one.

Cool side note: If you report on twitch.tv you get an email; If they do something about it, you get another email saying they actioned it.