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Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers

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Re: Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers

#181

Post by smcin »

immibis wrote: post #75
guerrilla wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not an abused substance, it's violence.

This is not the first time I'm hearing someone say free speech is violence, but it is the first time they actually meant it about free speech and weren't covering up something else by calling it that.

Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff have been attacking that trope as factually incorrect and unhelpful for almost a decade now:

"Why It's a Bad Idea to Tell Students Words Are Violence : A claim increasingly heard on campus will make them more anxious and more willing to justify physical harm." (2017)

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/07/why-it...

Re: Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers

#182

Post by adamc »

ath3nd wrote: post #54
throw12347825 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A tragic story would be one where folks in positions of power in these organizations saw these crises coming from a million miles away, tried to avoid disaster, and failed. I don't think this is a tragic story. I think this is a rather boring and formulaic plot we're seeing over and over: the story of late-stage capitalism and the application of value-extraction to human social structures resulting in comically terri…

[flagged]

This is a problem that could be solved with serious penalties (say, 20 years in prison for executives involved) and serious enforcement.

Re: Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers

#183

Post by burningChrome »

a2128 wrote: post #15

This reads like a tragic story. Once you've collected enough data on every internet user out there to group them into different advertising cohorts, the remaining ungrouped users, by process of elimination (due to privacy or targeted advertising laws), are children; and now they can be targeted just as easily.

This sounds eerily familiar with how big tobacco targeted underage kids to get them hooked on their products in the 60's and 70's.

Re: Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers

#184

Post by burkaman »

volleygman180 wrote: post #123
imiric wrote: post #22

"We're sorry." This is not surprising. Google has a history violating the privacy of and targetting ads to not only teenagers, but children: - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/23/business/youtube-ads-kids... - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/business/media/youtube-ki... - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/business/media/google-you... - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/technology/google-youtube... - https://www.n…

Are commercials during saturday morning cartoons not ads targeted at children? When I was growing up at least, it was all for candy, toys, and sugary cereal, and often had kids or cartoon characters featured in the commercial.

Yes those are also bad and should not be allowed.

Re: Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers

#185

Post by toomuchtodo »

throw12347825 wrote: post #29
a2128 wrote: post #15

This reads like a tragic story. Once you've collected enough data on every internet user out there to group them into different advertising cohorts, the remaining ungrouped users, by process of elimination (due to privacy or targeted advertising laws), are children; and now they can be targeted just as easily.

A tragic story would be one where folks in positions of power in these organizations saw these crises coming from a million miles away, tried to avoid disaster, and failed. I don't think this is a tragic story. I think this is a rather boring and formulaic plot we're seeing over and over: the story of late-stage capitalism and the application of value-extraction to human social structures resulting in comically terri…

Someone on HN [1] recommended "Broken Code," [2] a book about the various people who tried to fix Facebook/Meta from the inside and noped out. Highly recommend having purchased and read. "Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.” -- Captain G. M. Gilbert

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40969211

[2] https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/712678/broken-code-...

(keep those book recommendations coming)

Re: Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers

#186

Post by dwayne_dibley »

brigadier132 wrote: post #170
sithlord wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would hazard a guess that no one likes ads except the likes of google and meta SHAREHOLDERS).

I was incredulous but many normal people actually enjoy ads.

I mean they can often be useful.

Re: Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers

#187

Post by maeil »

Zambyte wrote: post #50
a2128 wrote: post #15

This reads like a tragic story. Once you've collected enough data on every internet user out there to group them into different advertising cohorts, the remaining ungrouped users, by process of elimination (due to privacy or targeted advertising laws), are children; and now they can be targeted just as easily.

We could also make it illegal to advertise to children at all. Wouldn't that be funny if all of us started clicking "I am below 18" :D

This is already the case for e.g. gambling ads in certain countries. Recently I saw the first website that was basically begging the user to "please be honest" on the age popup, indicating a good number of people have caught on to just clicking "under 21". Of course I still clicked "under 21".

Re: Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers

#188

Post by impossiblefork »

resource_waste wrote: post #154

Wait... Nintendo and Disney targets children, including those too young to know what Ads are. Why are these different ethics? (They are not, both of those companies have created literal fanatics by adulthood. Even I cannot avoid beating each Zelda game despite not enjoying a single Zelda game since WW)

Here in Sweden it's illegal to do so and you only find advertisements directed at children on stations operating from abroad.

Re: Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers

#189

Post by alfiedotwtf »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #169
throw12347825 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A tragic story would be one where folks in positions of power in these organizations saw these crises coming from a million miles away, tried to avoid disaster, and failed. I don't think this is a tragic story. I think this is a rather boring and formulaic plot we're seeing over and over: the story of late-stage capitalism and the application of value-extraction to human social structures resulting in comically terri…

The line has to go up, and the slack has to be taken out of every last source of revenue. Like that story that was here yesterday about insurance companies monitoring customer's insured assets with drones and AI. Every unexploited dollar left on the table is slack, and a perfect market leaves no dollar unexploited. Therefore a more perfect market can be built with more perfect machine-powered decisions to more perfec…

You’re on a website run by venture capitalists who use this platform to increase the value of their portfolios… so unless you’re an agent provocateur, your comment needs to be read as ironic performance art because I hate to break it to you - you’re also part of the problem

Re: Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers

#190

Post by supertofu »

burningChrome wrote: post #183
a2128 wrote: post #15

This reads like a tragic story. Once you've collected enough data on every internet user out there to group them into different advertising cohorts, the remaining ungrouped users, by process of elimination (due to privacy or targeted advertising laws), are children; and now they can be targeted just as easily.

This sounds eerily familiar with how big tobacco targeted underage kids to get them hooked on their products in the 60's and 70's.

You don't even have to go that far back. Remember Juul in the 2010s?
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