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Google, Meta and Microsoft to stop showing political ads in the EU

politico.eu

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Re: Google, Meta and Microsoft to stop showing political ads in the EU

#41

Post by baby »

It is messed up in the US that a political party basically wins because they spend more money in ads and utilize ads more intelligently.

I mean things like this: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/04/election-mus...

> A political action committee (Pac) linked to Elon Musk is accused of targeting Jewish and Arab American voters in swing states with dramatically different messages about Kamala Harris’s position on Gaza, a strategy by Trump allies aimed at peeling off Democratic support for the vice-president.

> Texts, mailers, social media ads and billboards targeting heavily Arab American areas in metro Detroit paint Harris as a staunch ally of Israel who will continue supplying arms to the country. Meanwhile, residents in metro Detroit or areas of Pennsylvania with higher Jewish populations have been receiving messaging that underscores her alleged support for the Palestinian cause.

There seems to be no attempt at making elections fair by providing all candidates with the same funding and the same air time.

Re: Google, Meta and Microsoft to stop showing political ads in the EU

#43

Post by JoshTriplett »

dietr1ch wrote: post #10
dangus wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a good way to trap everyone with incumbent corporations. No quitting your corporate job to start your own business, you’re not allowed to advertise.

You are conflating slapping ads in people's faces with making your business listed on the white/yellow/whatever pages and allowing people to find you without being a jerk.

The yellow pages are ads, that's why for a while it was really hard to stop getting the phone company to stop leaving it as trash on your doorstep.

Re: Google, Meta and Microsoft to stop showing political ads in the EU

#44

Post by dylan604 »

tdb7893 wrote: post #2

Ignoring political implications here and just on a personal level I wish political ads were banned. Quite possibly my least favorite type of ad to see and I've never felt meaningfully informed by them (generally quite the opposite).

> generally quite the opposite

Very much this. These ads make me very much not want to vote for the candidate which is the opposite of what they wanted.

Re: Google, Meta and Microsoft to stop showing political ads in the EU

#45

Post by Bjartr »

seydor wrote: post #38
paxys wrote: post #34

> “Smaller, newer parties and independent candidates will lose an affordable channel to reach voters, while large, well-followed accounts remain largely unaffected,” Grassroots campaigns are not banned. Organic social media activity is not banned. Smaller parties will be just fine. This will only negatively impact politicians/parties/corporations who think that spending more money entitles them to a louder voice.

and how does a sole candidate for mayor begin this 'grassroots campaign'. If you seriously start knocking on people's doors, you re most likely to end up dead or in prison in this day and age

What makes that more true today than, say, 40 years ago?

Re: Google, Meta and Microsoft to stop showing political ads in the EU

#46

Post by baby »

fsflover wrote: post #3
tdb7893 wrote: post #2

Ignoring political implications here and just on a personal level I wish political ads were banned. Quite possibly my least favorite type of ad to see and I've never felt meaningfully informed by them (generally quite the opposite).

I would go even further: banning all ads, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43595269

IMO a bad idea, ads help with discoverability and is one of the most effective mechanism for growth. This includes for small and big businesses.

I think it makes more sense to target what kind of ads should be banned (e.g. politics, alcohol, cigarets, religion, etc.) and what ads format should be banned (e.g. loud ads, ads in the subway, etc.)

Re: Google, Meta and Microsoft to stop showing political ads in the EU

#47

Post by seydor »

baby wrote: post #41

It is messed up in the US that a political party basically wins because they spend more money in ads and utilize ads more intelligently. I mean things like this: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/04/election-mus... > A political action committee (Pac) linked to Elon Musk is accused of targeting Jewish and Arab American voters in swing states with dramatically different messages about Kamala Harris’s positi…

Democrats outspent Trump in 2020, 2024 and 2016

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/01/nx-s1-5173712/2024-election-a...

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/21/us/elections/...

Re: Google, Meta and Microsoft to stop showing political ads in the EU

#49

Post by jopsen »

cj wrote: post #4
tdb7893 wrote: post #2

Ignoring political implications here and just on a personal level I wish political ads were banned. Quite possibly my least favorite type of ad to see and I've never felt meaningfully informed by them (generally quite the opposite).

> Campaigners say the law will cause a harmful loss of information I find this quote from the article amusing. If EU political ads are anything like USA political ads, the objective of the ad is rarely, if ever, to educate the audience. The objective of most political ads is to confuse, disorient, and distort the narrative.

I don't think the political ads are like in the US.

Not at all.

Also the scale is no where near.

TV2 in Denmark just ran an article saying that the 24 politicians and parties buying the most ads bought a total of 250k ads ahead of this policy coming into effect.

Note that same month last year the spend was ~1/3.

I know Denmark is small, ~5-6M, but that's doesn't seem like a lot of money.

Re: Google, Meta and Microsoft to stop showing political ads in the EU

#50

Post by baud147258 »

seydor wrote: post #38
paxys wrote: post #34

> “Smaller, newer parties and independent candidates will lose an affordable channel to reach voters, while large, well-followed accounts remain largely unaffected,” Grassroots campaigns are not banned. Organic social media activity is not banned. Smaller parties will be just fine. This will only negatively impact politicians/parties/corporations who think that spending more money entitles them to a louder voice.

and how does a sole candidate for mayor begin this 'grassroots campaign'. If you seriously start knocking on people's doors, you re most likely to end up dead or in prison in this day and age

if you're a sole, unknown candidate, how do you expect to be elected?

More seriously, you can still hand out leaflets, meet with locals in public, cold-calling the locals, sticking placards, talking to journalists working for a local publication (if available).

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