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Weaponizing Ads: How Google and Facebook Ads Are Used to Wage Propaganda Wars

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Re: Weaponizing Ads: How Google and Facebook Ads Are Used to Wage Propaganda Wars

#141

Post by GuinansEyebrows »

normalaccess wrote: post #18
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amendments aren't god's laws passed to George Washington on Mt. Rushmore. We can change them if we feel it's appropriate. Commenter isn't making the case that the action is illegal, he's saying it's dystopian that the Government is making such blatant use of targeted media. And I agree.

But they are the best set of laws invented by humans so far for self governance. No kings, no popes, no dictators. As flawed as the current system is, the laws are good even if the people executing them are trash. You can change lots of things much higher up in the system without taking away our God given rights enshrined in the founding documents to fix these kinds of issues.

if god gave us those rights, they wouldn't need to be in a document. they would be intrinsic to our nature.

i know this is cynical and people on Hacker News Dot Com hate when i say this, but it will never change the fact that the constitution was authored and approved by men who owned human beings (including at least one man who took the teeth from human beings he owned to put into his own mouth). i don't care how high-minded the ideals may seem. the foundation is as rotten as Washington's teeth.

Re: Weaponizing Ads: How Google and Facebook Ads Are Used to Wage Propaganda Wars

#142

Post by [deleted] »

adrr wrote: post #67
jpadkins wrote: post #55

> Google did not pro-actively vet the truth of Israeli government claims It is really scary that people are pushing for Google and Meta to be the arbiter of truth. I don't think people realize what they are asking for. Western civilizations have a tradition of liberal free speech, and allowing the courts to sort out the specifics of what speech causes harm to what parties (libel, etc). There are already laws on the b…

Just repeal section 230 and we can make the court systems the arbiter of truth. Meta/Google don't care about what ads they run because they have no incentive to stop misinformation in fact they make money off of it.

[deleted]

Re: Weaponizing Ads: How Google and Facebook Ads Are Used to Wage Propaganda Wars

#143

Post by ToucanLoucan »

GuinansEyebrows wrote: post #141
normalaccess wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they are the best set of laws invented by humans so far for self governance. No kings, no popes, no dictators. As flawed as the current system is, the laws are good even if the people executing them are trash. You can change lots of things much higher up in the system without taking away our God given rights enshrined in the founding documents to fix these kinds of issues.

if god gave us those rights, they wouldn't need to be in a document. they would be intrinsic to our nature. i know this is cynical and people on Hacker News Dot Com hate when i say this, but it will never change the fact that the constitution was authored and approved by men who owned human beings (including at least one man who took the teeth from human beings he owned to put into his own mouth). i don't care how hi…

The big plan of the Revolution was not, in fact, any sort of revolution. It was merely consolidating power the landowning class already had, and not sending a cut back to Britain.

And like, that's fine. America, for better or worse, exists, and we'll never know if history would've been better or worse without us. But please let's let go of this fantastical origin story. We're a country, same as any other, just a bit younger, and already with frankly just as many atrocities under our belt as other countries. We are not unique, apart from we treat our citizenry uniquely poorly relative to other developed nations. If you want me to be proud of this country, I'm amenable to that, but it has to earn that.

Re: Weaponizing Ads: How Google and Facebook Ads Are Used to Wage Propaganda Wars

#144

Post by gchamonlive »

nradov wrote: post #125
gchamonlive wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Laws and regulations aren't intended to be "productive" so that's a total non sequitur. Saying that the current way isn't productive isn't the same as saying that laws and regulations are designed to be productive. Actually I've acknowledged that first thing when I said that laws are burocratic. But you have to agree that some form of productivity is expected, otherwise why even bother if nothing is gonna get done…

No, I don't have to agree. There is no such expectation. Your premise is fundamentally incorrect.

That's just trolling...

Re: Weaponizing Ads: How Google and Facebook Ads Are Used to Wage Propaganda Wars

#145

Post by jpadkins »

fragilerock wrote: post #86
jpadkins wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ok, call it theft of services. You used the service but blocked how the creator makes money on the service. Is it really different from someone who runs out of a barber or restaurant?

the restaurant spends resources (both physical and human) cooking and serving you the meal, likewise for the barber. a better example would be showing up late for a cinema showing so that you deliberately avoid watching the adverts and trailers... which i would guess most people would agree is morally fine?

The more direct cinema example would be sneaking into the theater and there were empty seats (so you did not deny anyone else access to the movie). Is that morally fine? You watched the movie, the creator doesn't get paid.

Re: Weaponizing Ads: How Google and Facebook Ads Are Used to Wage Propaganda Wars

#146

Post by bjourne »

albulab wrote: post #132
adhamsalama wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sub is pretty much controlled by Zionist. If you criticize Israel in any way shape or form, you'll get a permanent ban.

"controlled by zionists" Interestingly, every place Qatar doesn't pour billions into spreading propaganda sewage suddenly becomes "controlled by Zionists."

Try writing a comment alleging that Israel is an apartheid state and see how long it stays up.

Re: Weaponizing Ads: How Google and Facebook Ads Are Used to Wage Propaganda Wars

#147

Post by bjourne »

talkingtab wrote: post #75

Ads are propaganda. Propaganda is Ads. Ads = propaganda. Propaganda is a tool to persuade people. Are ads an attempt to persuade people? So is it news that people are using ads/propaganda to persuade people? No. Will Google, Facebook, Amazon or Apple do anything that will harm their revenue as propaganda platform? No. Do Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple use propaganda? Yes. This is like reading an article about how…

Yes, water is wet and all that. The harm done by Google and others by running ads for casino sites is probably much greater than the harm done by running Israeli propaganda. However, that battle has already been lost, in a way, and Google won't stop running casino ads because they make so much money on them. But perhaps they can be persuaded to stop running propaganda from genocidal states such as China, Russia, Israel, North Korea, etc.?

Re: Weaponizing Ads: How Google and Facebook Ads Are Used to Wage Propaganda Wars

#148

Post by adrr »

toast0 wrote: post #87
adrr wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just repeal section 230 and we can make the court systems the arbiter of truth. Meta/Google don't care about what ads they run because they have no incentive to stop misinformation in fact they make money off of it.

If someone is putting up illegal ads, shouldn't you file suit against the advertiser? Advertising is a commercial activity, so it should be reasonable to follow the money and find the advertiser. If necessary, add more requirements for advertisers to be identified/indetifiable so that suits can be served.

Except for online, fault falls under the business providing the venue/platform. You get shot at a concert/bar/sport game, the venue is at fault. Everyone has a duty of care except for online and because they aren't liable, they don't care. Why is there a special carve out for online companies?

Re: Weaponizing Ads: How Google and Facebook Ads Are Used to Wage Propaganda Wars

#149

Post by _Algernon_ »

JustExAWS wrote: post #64
_Algernon_ wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do put additional editorial standards on news publications. This puts legal responsibility for the published content on the publisher. It doesn't seem like that big a step to apply a similar standard to advertising platforms. Advertisers have failed to selfregulate the ads they choose to publish and it is infeasible to use the court system to judicate every false ad (that would be millions of court cases). Ergo yo…

Actually we don’t put any responsibilities on news publications beforehand. They can be sued after the fact for libel/slander.

I should have said liability, it would have been more precise, but I'd argue that liability is a form of responsibility so I don't think your correction is warranted.

Re: Weaponizing Ads: How Google and Facebook Ads Are Used to Wage Propaganda Wars

#150

Post by AnthonyMouse »

conover wrote: post #65
jpadkins wrote: post #55

> Google did not pro-actively vet the truth of Israeli government claims It is really scary that people are pushing for Google and Meta to be the arbiter of truth. I don't think people realize what they are asking for. Western civilizations have a tradition of liberal free speech, and allowing the courts to sort out the specifics of what speech causes harm to what parties (libel, etc). There are already laws on the b…

The government (and/or society?) have already deputized private organizations to enforce various types of controls either implicitly or explicitly. Banks (AML) and Payment Processors (recent Steam content removal news) come to mind. Irrespective of whether it's a good or bad things, it already exists.

> Irrespective of whether it's a good or bad things, it already exists.

Which is how we know that it's a trash fire that should be stamped out rather than causing it to spread.

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