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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

#251

Post by octacat »

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…

You can review them with AI. They have info where link goes, who pays for it, who is targeted. Scammers would have to be more creative, when you automatically detect 90% of them. But currently I can say "Oh, I've seen this scam comment/scam ad scheme 100 times". I am pretty sure AI would figure out the same.

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

#252

Post by callalex »

Nextgrid wrote: post #183
hiddencost wrote: post #98

https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/ I suppose it would be nice if there were an easy way for everyone to do this.

If the reports don’t go straight to /dev/null, it would be ineffective anyway since the scammers are outside of US jurisdiction and operate under fake identities.

The scammer in this case is YouTube because they are taking money and promoting the scam. Now you can even say they are knowingly participating because the scam was reported to them and they claim to have reviewed the content.

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

#253

Post by kjkjadksj »

segphault wrote: post #32

I routinely see ads for fake medical treatments that they refuse to take these down when I report them despite the fact that the ads obviously violate Google's policies. So many of the ads on YouTube are for things that are obviously sketchy that when I see a new product I'm not familiar with for the first time in YouTube ad I just assume it is a scam. It's crazy because YouTube has probably more information about th…

Product reviews are useless these days. Every single one they give a glowing review because there is this fear of alienating the manufacturer and not getting future product to review. I haven’t seen an actual critical review in years probably. They are all these ads with a layer of separation to fool you.

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

#254

Post by sonicanatidae »

callalex wrote: post #236
verdverm wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

At least it's not ANOTHER League of Legends ad.

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

#255

Post by callalex »

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…

It’s not impossible at all, just hire more people. That may not be as profitable, though.

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

#256

Post by KMnO4 »

bambax wrote: post #239
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

> but it's not actually addictive

Youtube is definitely addictive to a large population of people. If you can live without it, the only thing we can infer is that it's not addictive to you.

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

#257

Post by callalex »

TrackerFF wrote: post #136

I've noticed a huge uptick in the most obvious scams, when using my work PC (no ad-block!). Typical deepfakes of celebrities, where they've stolen some clip, and get the person to promote some crypto scam. It's laughable. Imagine being 80, and seeing Warren Buffet or Bill Gates on youtube promoting some random crypto brokerage, saying that you can create generational wealth TODAY! Since it's on youtube, it must be le…

Why do you consider such regulation to be heavy handed? They have definitively proven that they are happy to profit by harming others.

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

#258

Post by caskstrength »

JanneVee wrote: post #115
verdverm wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is he supposed to do, create a google account and get premium instead? I just put my parents on my family plan, you should consider it, it's a very low price for the peace of mind, plus they love not having ads

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

You are not a shopkeeper being extorted for protection money, you are a (unwelcome) shop customer demanding things you don't want to pay for while being free to go to another place.

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

#259

Post by verdverm »

callalex wrote: post #236
verdverm wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

You can skip past those pretty easily. I let them play for creators I actually like, who also tend to pick less scummy sponsored ads. Some of them even make the sponsored content really funny or personal to them.

You'll find the same quality spectrum. At least I know that the creator is seeing more of the ad dollars.

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

#260

Post by callalex »

verdverm wrote: post #259
callalex wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

You can skip past those pretty easily. I let them play for creators I actually like, who also tend to pick less scummy sponsored ads. Some of them even make the sponsored content really funny or personal to them. You'll find the same quality spectrum. At least I know that the creator is seeing more of the ad dollars.

Sure, but that still makes advertising paid YouTube as “ad-free” a lie and a scam.
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