Why aren't advertisers (Microsoft, Facebook, Google) held responsible for allowing scammy adverts?
I know they allow scam adverts because it’s easy money, but why aren’t they held responsible for facilitating obvious scams? You open Edge, there’s 3 “Earn money quick” adverts. On Instagram, every 5 ads, one is a scam.
Trillion dollar company, multibillion dollar company, trillion dollar company
And all 3 of them will point to the 1st amendment as prohibiting the government from regulating speech outside of a few very narrow circumstances.
Nah, the problem OP poses was also a major issue with TV ads, specially the kind of ads with that whole telemarketing, “buy now get 2 free, but wait there’s more, we’ll throw in these accessories all for” vibe. And radio, and magazines. A lot of snake oil and re-branded stuff was sold through it.
The real reason why accountability isn’t given to the platforms is because then the platforms would be less sustainable. And for the older media, that might have been fine still. But not so much the internet, which arguably, barely sustains itself on a gigantic ad-based bubble. It would be a death-throw for 99% of what we build and consume online. We just simply depend on ads THAT much.
I say they should try anyways. Absolutely. I do think the internet could benefit from having a lot more, smaller website, like before. We’re even popularizing the concept of interoperability again, like, man, we’re posting on Lemmy, a platform made to spread platforms. I think we’re closers to kill the ad dependency now than we ever been after the death of usenet.
Trillion dollar company, multibillion dollar company, trillion dollar company
And all 3 of them will point to the 1st amendment as prohibiting the government from regulating speech outside of a few very narrow circumstances.
“I don’t have a problem with what you presented, you should do what I do and forget about it”
Call me when your apathy solves a problem to someone else
The problem: companies profit by advertising shit that’s barely legal
The solution: “install an adblock lol”
Explain to me how that solves the problem
“You don’t see the ads anymore”
Yet the company is still profitting and anyone without adblock still sees it. It’s the equivalent of closing your eyes to a problem.
You should’ve lead with that instead of just “use an adblock”, completely skirting the actual problem. The way you first commented was apathetic.
You’re just acting like promoting adblockers comes at the expense of meaningful change.
That would make sense if the discussion wasn’t targeted specifically at the responsible companies. It’s the same thing as saying “use Linux” whenever a complaint about windows shows up.
Just in case it’s not clear, the way you reply makes all the difference in how you’re interpreted. “I use adblock and so should you” != “these companies profit off it, it’s why everyone should use an adblock”
I didn’t make the original comment so I shouldn’t/couldn’t have done anything.
This is the problem with online “debates,“ people just pretend nuanced and implications don’t exist. It is very clear that they are talking about an individual solution to get ads away from you right now. I feel like if we were all sitting at a dinner table having a conversation you wouldn’t be nearly as challenging about that as you are now. But we’re online, so people act like there’s no possible way to interpret things other than fiercely literally. It’s just a natural extension of not giving people the benefit of the doubt, refusing to engage with the best possible version of somebody’s argument. We’re always looking for holes.
Who knows that may be the up shot.
We all IMHO use it way too much these days especially me.
Hell it’s gotten so bad that years ago I found out my dad was in hospital via a fecking Facebook Post that said something along the lines of welp the surgery went well.
The docs I read (and yes like you my job relies on me being vaguely tech savey) but someone else can correct me ehere I go wrong
Server sends you app data e.g.youtube.
You receive app data but have extentions that fiddle with data. Not necessarily ad blocker could be any tamper monkey script or a relatively unknown accessibility extension that makes the page palatable.
Browser runs off to authorised entity e.g. Google but they are proposing others (all others I have seen named are big corporate cunts like ms and fb)
They check what’s on your screen and if what’s on the page matches what was sent we all good. If not they can block your access.
So in other words, Google wants to be able to confirm the web page you requested is not tempered with, similar to a video game detecting any kind of mods?
Ya, I don’t see how that’ll work out for them. Even those who don’t use ad blockers, many use accessibility plugins like you said.
I mean damn. I probably have at least 5 extensions that modify the page in some way. Adding better contrast, removing buttons I don’t use and want to hide…
Game mods is a good simile ill try remember that.
Hell the gta franchise is probably a good example as Rockstar flipped their mod position at one point.
I’ve always hated advertising, but I hated it even more once I worked in advertising.
That being said, it’s unfair to advertisers. (ugh, I hate saying that, because it’s a slimy business, but this is the reality) Nobody has the time to thoroughly research EVERY business that wants to buy advertising. Also, there’s a fine line between scams and completely legal yet manipulative business.
Bill might be starting a legitimate small business and wants to advertise to get his first clients. There’s very little information available online and no reviews because he’s just starting out, but that could look like a fly by night scammer.
Joe owns a similar small business. He charges too much and he doesn’t do very good work. That’s not illegal, but people who use his services might feel like they got scammed.
Bob’s a piece of shit. He wants to take your money and give you nothing in return. He knows what an advertiser would look for to verify his legitimacy, and he makes a fake website full of fake reviews.
In this instance, the advertiser might refuse to sell to Bill, get sued for selling to Joe and spend money and time proving that he’s technically legit, and perhaps not even know that Bob’s a scammer until months after he’s taken the money and run.
Oh yeah i see auto repair scam adverts all the time...?
Wait no, im seeing goddamn miracle cures for aging on youtube. Old guy literally saying itll make you 20 years old again.
Woudl you like to buy Doctor Binsemanns Bevertail extract? It cures cancer, aids, std’s, headaches, stupid and much much more! Its even cheaper than insulin! Only $59.99 per 50ml
You mean like that? Been there, seen that, I know why I pay for kagi and YT Premium and have adblockers everywhere else.
And then y’all complain when we tell you that we want to overthrow capitalism.
It’s giving „you have to accept being harmed because otherwise my business can’t turn a profit“
Fuk yo business then, don give a shit about it.
or the laws require them to.
I believe thats whats being suggested
While also complaining its not fair when we protect ourselves from the business they won’t protect us from e.g. ad blockers.
Google going so far to invent “Web drm” to ensure we have no choice but allow them to serve us malicious ads that the won’t filer themselves
It’s not just time and resources, they too are being lied to. If the scam is good enough that people will fall for it, some advertisers will as well.
Right now there are no regulations, so many don’t care at all. That sucks, but the scammers are the problem here. They are the ones trying to rip you off. The ad companies might not care if you get screwed or not, but it’s unrealistic for us to expect them to know EXACTLY what every client’s intentions are. A business could run legitimately for years and then start running a scam. How long would we give the advertisers to realize that the client has started scamming people? Do they get in trouble because they ran ads for someone who would LATER start scamming people?
I’m all for discussing other ways to control advertising, but shooting the messenger isn’t it.
Who decides which legal businesses are allowed to run ads?
I completely agree that MLMs are a “scam” but they are legitimate businesses in the eyes of the law. You suggested we ban them, so what defines who is allowed to advertise and who isn’t? I’m not comfortable with leaving it as “anything somebody in charge doesn’t like”.
I completely agree that MLMs are a “scam” but they are legitimate businesses in the eyes of the law.
Then they shouldn't be. Problem solved, next question?
I really try to caution people from accepting these "it's too much to hold us accountable for" answers. If it's too much, then cut back. Simple as that. If I am a real estate mogul and my building collapses like in Miami, do you think the local/state/federal agencies involved will shrug it off when I go "Now now now, I have far too many properties. I can't possibly be expected to be in compliance all the time. A collapse and some deaths once in a while is inevitable"? Of course not, that would be ridiculous. Yet when youtube goes "we simply have too many uploads to screen it all," we do just that!
Same goes here. If you're juggling too many advertisers, why is that our problem?
Yeah. This is why we have things called regulations.
When seatbelts and crumple zones and airbags and crash safety ratings became a thing, car manufacturers didn’t want to add any of that crap in, because, you know, it would cut into their profit margins. And then the government said “do it or you’re not allowed to sell cars”. And then all the manufacturers did it.
Something similar can theoretically be done for advertising. But it probably won’t, because regulatory capture has been normalized.
Nobody has the time to thoroughly research EVERY business that wants to buy advertising.
Wrong. Nobody wants to spend the money to do that, because they know they will not be held responsible.
Change the responsibility factor, and the money will be there.
Or, instead of finding that money, they find another way to avoid spending it.
It wouldn’t be long before you only see advertising from large corporations. Love them or hate them, we all know that Walmart is a legit business. A potential, morally superior competitor, that we’ve never heard of may not even get the chance to advertise. The newspaper or TV station doesn’t want to risk getting sued for a scam, so they just refuse service. Walmart keeps playing ads, and nobody ever hears about the store that we never knew we wanted.
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