I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

Post by sysworld » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 10:21 PM UTC

cvoss wrote: post #345

b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #328

Maybe I'm just scarred from the late 90s internet, but I have assumed that every ad on every website is a scam at all times for as long as I can remember. Which is why I block ads unconditionally everywhere that I can.

I'm old enough to consider TV ads as scams too. "For only 6 payments of 19.99!" The "mute" button on my parents' remote control was worn off. I still mute ads that I get through low-tier streaming subscriptions. It's really jarring to go to a friend's house where they don't mute their ads. Heck, I've even seen scam ads in printed local newspapers. They typically target seniors with a thing for collecting rare coins a…

Post by ndriscoll » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 10:34 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #212

ndriscoll wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would a less legitimate company not pay more money to give you a worse deal with better margins? The intuitive dynamics to me would be that any way to trick consumers will be applied, and the bulk of the resulting spread will be captured by the ad companies via their auction systems. So we all get worse products with worse deals, and the difference goes into spying on people and convincing them to become more con…

> Why would a less legitimate company not pay more money to give you a worse deal with better margins? Because what matters is the total spend per resulting purchase, not spend per impression. Because spam ad companies have a very tiny conversion rate, they can only pay a very small amount per impression before it becomes unprofitable. Legitimate companies aren't usually trying to completely trick their customers. Th…

Post by 1718627440 » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 10:39 PM UTC

flkiwi wrote: post #228

My "favorite", and likely related, part of Apple News is that if I have blocked a source because it is unreliable, heavily biased, etc., and a story from that source appears in the main timeline, Apple News shows a greyed out version of the story--headline and image visible--with "You have blocked this publication" (or similar). You can still clearly see the story, so it's not blocked at all. I assume this comes down…

Post by olivia-banks » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 10:51 PM UTC

michael_michael wrote: post #316

olivia-banks wrote: post #156

I've an avid Apple News user, and while I haven't seen the sorts of ads in the article, I do gets lots of ads for tax filing software. Namely, Intuit TurboTax. They are the only ads I ever get. What's more, if you even touch them while scrolling, it triggers the "download app" screen, even if I don't explicitly tap. This is new as of a few weeks ago.

Those stupid effing TurboTax ads are the only time I’ve ever been motivated to actually write feedback to apple about a feature. So aggravating and user-hostile. The first few times the App Store opened to TurboTax while scrolling past, I assumed it was my fault and I was somehow misclicking. Then I slowed down and confirmed, no, this is the intended behavior. It’s meant to pop up and disturb your reading. What slimy…

Post by ndriscoll » Fri, Feb 06, 2026, 10:54 PM UTC

einr wrote: post #374

isoprophlex wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then what do i move to? No linux laptop feels as good to touch as the aluminum macbooks, and in terms of phones it can't get any worse than the ads-and-trackers shitshow that is android...

MacBooks are nice but: priorities. If the choice is between avoiding selling out your brain to adtech, tracking and AI slop baked into the OS or having something that feels good to touch then bring me the e-waste bin and let me fish out some creaky plastic garbage with a 768p TN panel that I can slap Debian on. I care about nice hardware, but I don't care that much.