I think the answer is, that's always been Google's business and not much has really changed. Advertising accounts for about 78% of their total revenue.
Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?
301–310 of 428 posts
Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?
#302Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is the scummy adsense ads don't hurt Google's reputation. Outside the techie crowd people don't know the ads are from Google.
It does in the sense that they're losing business, as people describe in this thread. But I get your point, Google seems to be enjoying the profits more than the harm to their reputation. If it gets bad enough, maybe they'll rethink.
They're losing business that they don't want. Silicon Valley culture has embraced saying no, firing clients and customers, choosing the right audience, etc. This even fits into finding product-market fit. You don't try to please everyone, and find a well-defined segment. So to Google it might not seem like it's getting bad at all. To them, maybe the trash took itself out, they got rid of that annoying customer who complains about their marketplace, whereas they appreciate the quiet reporting of an ad that's against the ToS...
Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?
#303Someone who has spent $100M+ on Google Ads explained to me that Google is doing everything possible to juice their revenue right now, in ways they've never seen before. Seems like two things 1) Google is losing at AI and Sundar wants to mask this 2) AI is going to destroy their ad business and they want to get while the getting is good.
I think the 3.8 Flash release shows they are doing just fine at AI. Unlike OpenAI and Anthropomorphic, Google doesn’t have to release new models to capture VC sentiment every three months. They have the hardware, data and money. And when they release a model it’s very good. Now their product strategy however…
open router isn't the whole market, but open router shows google is struggling for market share in the limited window we can see
Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?
#304My opinion is that someone somewhere is paying for those ads and Google needs to get positive identification of a human being for any ad. Google has a near monopoly so there is no reason Google can't force this requirement arbitrarily. Once you have positive identification, suspend them pending further investigation if they serve any dodgy ad. I will be genuinely surprised if Google makes any money off of these dodgy…
Potential issues:
- There are some well-known ways around developer verification (peopl in some countries _need_ them for one reason or another so - they use non-local cards,etc)
- it's very basic verification and people who pay for ads likely arleady do it (payment have to come from somewhere).
- Proof of address is also spoofable and there are some situations were people making/providing fakes when they don't mean ill intent towards anybody else (example: Russia, some of ways to make non-Russian-only Visa/MC require making fake proof) but such methods could also be abused for doing actual harm.
- ID verification sometimes complicated if a lot of countries are involved. Example: I'm not at all sure at least one person in Google actually knew what Abhazian passport is and how to verify it ?
Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?
#305We need strict liability on this front. Google is complicit. No newspaper or equivalent publication in the days before web ads would allow ads that are down at the level of scam that seemingly make up the modus operandi of Google today (and even the ads back then that did bend the truth a bit, overpromised, or showed products that didn't actually have any legitimate use, shouldn't really have been legal back then eit…
There were so many scam ads in magazines and newspapers back in the day. Same with all the made for tv stuff and infomercials. The difference for the newspaper and magazine ads is you couldn't just click on it in an instant. You had to spend a lot more effort and had more chances to realize it is a scam.
In a way, ads like that can be a bit scarier. We recently bought a house and through the next 3 months I got so many scary warnings in the mail, most of which looked legit and official, saying that if I dont visit sign up for X then I will be billed Y, or my house will be at risk of Z, and other such tactics. I was not expecting this inondation but I can see someone falling for this.
Not trying to justify either, BTW. Its just scary how many different ways there are to defraud people.
Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?
#306Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is the scummy adsense ads don't hurt Google's reputation. Outside the techie crowd people don't know the ads are from Google.
That seems fixable. When people include this JS garbage, have a header/title/etc stating that this is Google's professional opinion. Bake it into a library offering enough other features that a large number of people are inclined to use it.
The only people that would care are already using adblockers and not seeing these ads anyway.
Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've flagged an AI-generated add once that promoted a small device that could cool a hot room (many degrees celcius lower, very quickly, for very little energy and very little money and without external components), defying the laws of thermodynamics. They said they investigated it and concluded it did not break any rules and no actions where taken.
"Lisa, get in here... in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"
That was a good one from the simpsons:
https://frinkiac.com/comic?b=AQIBBlMwNkUyMafYCwABEvQBygNqSSB...
Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?
#308Someone who has spent $100M+ on Google Ads explained to me that Google is doing everything possible to juice their revenue right now, in ways they've never seen before. Seems like two things 1) Google is losing at AI and Sundar wants to mask this 2) AI is going to destroy their ad business and they want to get while the getting is good.
I don't think it's related to AI, at least not originally. To me this is about the slow death of display advertising. The arms race of ad blockers and ad blocker blockers and such has created a world where people hate display ads, especially because they require so much creepy data to even work in the first place. AI probably would help their display ad business overall -- they finally just launched a "have Gemini cr…
My understanding was that the Ad business was starting to suffer because of how much bot activity there's been both in social media and indexed search (Google).
But I wouldn't write off ads yet. It seems plausible to me that LLMs will be able to slightly alter their output to casually mention paying brands and to profile users better than we could before.
Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is the scummy adsense ads don't hurt Google's reputation. Outside the techie crowd people don't know the ads are from Google.
Calls from law enforcement is laud and clear: BigTech is not doing enough to fight fraud, war and other crimes, they make money from criminals. Nobody’s yet cared enough to sue them, or their managers at ICC yet. However, eventually an ambitious lawyer will try to make the case, especially if fraud and human trafficking continues to grow like it is.
> at ICC yet.
Want to take bets on whether the US gov wades in if that happens?
The US gov is directly antagonistic to the ICC and will undermine them whenever possible. This would present them another chance.
Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?
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