Uber sends political ads through push notifications • Hacker News Board

Re: Uber sends political ads through push notifications

#11

Post by oehtXRwMkIs » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 1:42 AM UTC

Rebelgecko wrote: post #10

qppo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could have invested that 180-odd million they spent on political advertisements figuring out how to pay their drivers and comply with AB5

From an analysis I saw, AB-5 is expected to cost them around $500m per year. Even though prop-22 would still be more expensive than their pre-AB5 costs, that's a pretty good ROI if they succeed.

Thanks for mentioning this, a tweet that said Uber spending so much on campaigning/lobbying shows that they can pay drivers went viral and drove me a little nuts with the clear lack of thinking involved.

Re: Uber sends political ads through push notifications

#12

Post by d33lio » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:05 AM UTC

I hate companies pushing narratives like this - but if I had a startup and really needed cash I could see why some people would leverage their list of contacts for some cash from a desperate political campaign. Ethically I would never do this, but there are always people who stoop lower or think their politics are "above" that of their customer's.

Re: Uber sends political ads through push notifications

#13

Post by rayhendricks » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:16 AM UTC

tmalik25 wrote: post #5

Same here. This is not what I signed up for. It does seem to be in violation of apple guidelines - "4.5.3 Do not use Apple Services to spam, phish, or send unsolicited messages to customers, including Game Center, Push Notifications, etc." also, this in 4.5.4 " Push Notifications should not be used for promotions or direct marketing purposes unless customers have explicitly opted in to receive them via consent langua…

Starbucks/Amazon do this all the time too. I want to know when my coffee is ready and not when you're having a sale or it's double star day.

Re: Uber sends political ads through push notifications

#14

Post by jridgewell » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:21 AM UTC

rayhendricks wrote: post #13

tmalik25 wrote: post #5

Same here. This is not what I signed up for. It does seem to be in violation of apple guidelines - "4.5.3 Do not use Apple Services to spam, phish, or send unsolicited messages to customers, including Game Center, Push Notifications, etc." also, this in 4.5.4 " Push Notifications should not be used for promotions or direct marketing purposes unless customers have explicitly opted in to receive them via consent langua…

Starbucks/Amazon do this all the time too. I want to know when my coffee is ready and not when you're having a sale or it's double star day.

I generally disable push notifications when apps start sending sale spam. But I feel like pushing political ads is crossing a whole new line.

I think this is the first time I've left a negative review for bad behavior.

Re: Uber sends political ads through push notifications

#15

Post by eznzt » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:28 AM UTC

It makes a bit of sense... I assume they will have to close shop if that doesn't come to pass. Therefore users are expected to act.

Re: Uber sends political ads through push notifications

#16

Post by qppo » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:42 AM UTC

oehtXRwMkIs wrote: post #11

Rebelgecko wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From an analysis I saw, AB-5 is expected to cost them around $500m per year. Even though prop-22 would still be more expensive than their pre-AB5 costs, that's a pretty good ROI if they succeed.

Thanks for mentioning this, a tweet that said Uber spending so much on campaigning/lobbying shows that they can pay drivers went viral and drove me a little nuts with the clear lack of thinking involved.

Notice that in my comment I said "invest in figuring out" and not "pay drivers with." personally I doubt that it would cost a half billion dollars - that's farcical even at California scale. But the point Id raise is it costs less than 180 million to reorganize and set up insurance coverage for your drivers, payroll, and other internal infrastructure to comply with the law.

But complying with the law is antithetical to Uber's culture, so it's not surprising that the thought of obeying the law never crossed their minds.

Re: Uber sends political ads through push notifications

#17

Post by junon » Thu, Oct 15, 2020, 2:12 PM UTC

Used to work for Uber corporate. This doesn't surprise me at all.

Re: Uber sends political ads through push notifications

#18

Post by tmalik25 » Thu, Oct 22, 2020, 11:16 PM UTC

tmalik25 wrote: post #5

Same here. This is not what I signed up for. It does seem to be in violation of apple guidelines - "4.5.3 Do not use Apple Services to spam, phish, or send unsolicited messages to customers, including Game Center, Push Notifications, etc." also, this in 4.5.4 " Push Notifications should not be used for promotions or direct marketing purposes unless customers have explicitly opted in to receive them via consent langua…

And.. here's the lawsuit. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/uber-driver...

Re: Uber sends political ads through push notifications

#19

Post by Slikey » Thu, Oct 22, 2020, 11:16 PM UTC

Kaze404 wrote: post #6

I uninstalled Uber and Uber Eats a while ago. I'm convinced this company is actually an experiment on how far someone can let a system go unsupervised before it falls apart. It started with Uber Eats spamming me with coupons through at least 5 SMS a day that I the app wouldn't let me use. When contacting support, they shrugged me off. Then,months later, I was out for errands and with no mobile data. I called my girlf…

I used Uber once in LA almost 2 years ago and live in Germany. I received an email from them to vote in their interest sending a sponsored MADD campaign letter. (lol)