Plotting where the line falls is an interesting problem. Is anti-vaccine misinformation political? Is it greenwashing oil political? Attacking EV incentives? Is correctly informing people about climate change political?
Google will stop serving political ads in the EU, including on YouTube
41–50 of 109 posts
Re: Google will stop serving political ads in the EU, including on YouTube
#42Considering how much of YouTube's "content" is right wing conspiracy nonsense, can't see how this is going to move the needle much.
I genuinely don't see any. What are you doing to get the algorithm to feed you content like that?
Or if this isn't in your feed - what are you basing your estimate on?
I don't doubt there's a ton of it - but I'm curious how you know there's a ton of it.
Re: Google will stop serving political ads in the EU, including on YouTube
#43It is a remarkably complex issue to take a stance on, because most voters don't seem to do any particular research, don't have any understanding of cause-and-effect between policies and outcomes and are easily swayed by lies. Does allowing ad spending on Google push that messy equilibrium towards a better result or a worse result? I contend it is impossible to say with certainty but political ads are likely a net win…
The problem is not so much paid political ads as imbalance in spending and tracking the real person behind the ad ?
( which is what you’re pointing at I think )
Re: Google will stop serving political ads in the EU, including on YouTube
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know what various countries' norms are, but if people aren't used to political ads and are generally suspicious of the concept, an ad may have negative utility. I know if I saw a paid ad for a candidate that would make me want to vote against them.
Paper flyers in your mailbox, and billboards in people's gardens, are some age-old and very common forms of advertisement during elections I've seen in multiple countries in Europe
In Spain we get nicely labeled "Political Propaganda" in the mail around election time. I think by law each party can send you one letter, and it has to have the "Political Propaganda" text on the outside.
It's pretty nice in that I can throw it all straight into the recycling bin!
Re: Google will stop serving political ads in the EU, including on YouTube
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
And "a propos of nothing, would you like to see this political fringe/crank/"angle"/plain lies content?" Since YouTube started to take disabled tracking seriously, I guess I see what it tends to suggest to Joe Shmoe, and it's not good - not for Joe and for sure not for social cohesion.
I was sure there was EU laws as well as big tech policies against misinformation / fake news nowadays, maybe I was wrong, maybe there's no oversight, or maybe money trumps principles/laws. I'm disappointed, given that it's no secret that foreign interests (e.g. Russia) are funding / pushing these divisive misinformation campaigns. Ironically, me saying it's Russia pushing divisive campaigns is in itself a divisive st…
I'm also fairly surprised that such crap is still happening. I think I remember details about one time that it happened, it was in the context of a video where some US dude tries all kinds of flammable liquids as fuel in a combustion engine. It was like YouTube decided "Oh, redneck content! That guy is gonna love himself some right-wing cringe shit."
No, YouTube. That guy doesn't like it and that guy doesn't like YouTube serving divisive garbage to others.
Re: Google will stop serving political ads in the EU, including on YouTube
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting, why do you think so? I feel like paid, targeted ads on platforms everyone uses are extremely insidous, because an incumbent or major political party will always have more funds than an e.g. an upstart party, and targeting is generally bad as it's easy to play into people's preconceived notions that way, instead of presenting your position or the change you advocate for. Edit: replaced "incumbent" with "i…
Winning at targeted ads is more of a skill game. You typically only need a few thousand well placed votes to win an election, and even 100k impressions at $10 CPM is pretty inexpensive.
> You typically only need a few thousand well placed votes to win an election, and even 100k impressions at $10 CPM is pretty inexpensive.
In the context of the EU this isn't true though, no political system in any EU member state relies on a tiny minority of votes from some states/provinces to completely tip an election.
Re: Google will stop serving political ads in the EU, including on YouTube
#47Considering how much of YouTube's "content" is right wing conspiracy nonsense, can't see how this is going to move the needle much.
I genuinely don't see any. What are you doing to get the algorithm to feed you content like that? Or if this isn't in your feed - what are you basing your estimate on? I don't doubt there's a ton of it - but I'm curious how you know there's a ton of it.
It doesn't take much. We recently had large floods where I live and I decided that for next time I was going to have some supplies ready, just in case. A few seemingly benign searches for "preparedness" later and my feed is full of conspiracy theorists, guns and Jeeps. I guess the "prepper" crowd correlates strongly with some other categories.
Re: Google will stop serving political ads in the EU, including on YouTube
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but feeding impressionable people garbage which then gets them to vote squarely against their own interests is worse than creators making a bit less.
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Some phds are also impressionable; some of them are even religious, so then I think we should just not vote at all and decide randomly. Will it make much difference?
/s -- why is this a thing now?
Re: Google will stop serving political ads in the EU, including on YouTube
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but feeding impressionable people garbage which then gets them to vote squarely against their own interests is worse than creators making a bit less.
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Acknowledging the deliberate rampant misinformation campaigns doesn't make you an elitist.
Re: Google will stop serving political ads in the EU, including on YouTube
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I genuinely don't see any. What are you doing to get the algorithm to feed you content like that? Or if this isn't in your feed - what are you basing your estimate on? I don't doubt there's a ton of it - but I'm curious how you know there's a ton of it.
It doesn't take much. We recently had large floods where I live and I decided that for next time I was going to have some supplies ready, just in case. A few seemingly benign searches for "preparedness" later and my feed is full of conspiracy theorists, guns and Jeeps. I guess the "prepper" crowd correlates strongly with some other categories.
The fact you have to go out of your way to find this supposed "right wing conspiracy nonsense" should be a good indicator of your own bias.
I wonder if you had the same opinion of being prepared with cars and guns if you lived in ukraine or gaza