Rickard Schoultz
Micah LeeWhen you search for “mastodon” in the iPhone App Store, the top result is an ad for Truth Social #enshittification
Eugen Rochko@micahflee It's a shame there is seemingly nothing you can do as the app owner to stop this. Maybe buying your own ad for your own keyword, but we don't have money to spend on that.
@Gargron yeah. Apple selling ads that appear first when people search for the name of your app is unethical, and also just makes the experience of iPhones worse
matuzalem@micahflee @Gargron apple has lost the plot.
ninavizz@micahflee @Gargron It's a terrible user experience, and would have never been allowed if the Human Factors practice had remained. Man, they've bummed me out so much over the past 20 years. Man, I'm old. 🤣
Nick Yorke>> Maybe buying your own ad for your own keyword, but we don't have money to spend on that.
Based on Truth Social's financials and stock prices they might not have the money for that soon either. 🙂
Sérgio Machado@Gargron @micahflee maybe starting to giving massively bad reviews …
At least in my country mastodon is listed ok :)
At least in my country mastodon is listed ok :)
Cluster Fcku@Gargron @micahflee you could view this incident as a PR opportunity, and write about it in the blogosphere, in terms of ethics, capitalism, post-twitterism, enshittification, and all what attracts Target Mastodon users. This would work as a positive story about Mastodon because the user bases are practically diametrically opposed.
Parleur
Jack Aponte
Leon Cowle@micahflee Urgh. 👎🤮
(But the very tiniest of “to be fair”s, isn’t Truth Social actually a Mastodon instance?)
Klara ❤️@leoncowle @micahflee It is. It also didn't publish its source code for a while and then begrudgingly did so in tarballs after being called out.
AGF : poemproducer@micahflee ye wtf apple lately like that, try podcasts, what comes up first
Sheldon@micahflee it appears that the iOS ads are only keyword specific.
I just did that search and the top result was an ad for a streaming app for a local public radio station. It had nothing to do with Mastodon or any sort of social media.
Tom Westmacott@micahflee Yes - it's even worse when you go to search for the authentication app your company has instructed you to install, and it brings up a subtly different one instead!
Andre C.@micahflee This reminds me that a few years ago, there were adverts on several search engines when you searched for Firefox, which led you to a phishing site where you could "download firefox". Just that it wasn't Firefox but malware.
Eric Caswell@micahflee I’m not seeing that here. Not a trace of it near the top.
The top left changes every search but Mastodon remains top right.
The top left changes every search but Mastodon remains top right.
Eh?!?@micahflee
4.5/5 stars?
4.5/5 stars?
Emil Jacobs - Collectifission@micahflee That appears to be a local this. I get something about a financial lease app, which isn't much better 😅
Paranjay@micahflee I don't expect anything else from a company that allegedly matched its employees' donations to enable the gruesome killing of innocents in Gaza.
It's a little off-topic, but as a user/fan of Apple, it broke my heart.
Troy
Sternberg
schuelermine@micahflee what does this have to do with enshittification‽
ms. liz@anselmschueler when all you have is a hammer…
Neil@micahflee I'd like to boost this, but that would only give the advertised app in the picture more prominence 😞
wakest likes your bugs ⁂@micahflee been like this for years too
betonglenon playstore:
i tried with quotes ie 'mastodon' and it came up but i never use quotes. next i tired without quotes and it still came up first but perhaps first search impacted this.
i have had similar 'mismatch' as you in past when i searched without quotes
sofia ☮️🏴@micahflee the iPhone App Store has fucking ads?? how pathetic can Apple even get? let alone for propaganda app of a fascist demagogue…
Stephen Thomas@micahflee To be fair, Truth Social is a fork the Mastodon code base. :)
TerpieCat@micahflee My top result is an ad for Button - Fertility Matchmaking. LOL.
donkey
Meercat ✅
@micahflee That’s bad
Keev
Kevin Karhan 
@micahflee wtf!?
O muh for the benefits of a "curated #AppStore" that #Apple claims all the time...
Jessie Nabein 
@micahflee Same happens with Instagram too in the Play Store.
2024-08 #enshittification #PlayStore #Android
2024-08 #enshittification #PlayStore #Android
Draken BlackKnight@micahflee
I just checked it on Android and, while that outdated version of Mastodon isn't an ad there, I am seeing results for Threads a.k.a. "Mastodon't."
I just checked it on Android and, while that outdated version of Mastodon isn't an ad there, I am seeing results for Threads a.k.a. "Mastodon't."
Andy Piper@micahflee feels very desperate on the part of Truth Social, eh.
Sebastian Lassejust btw;
yesterday at #scoopcamp I mentioned Trump stealing the mastodon source code.
Later I noticed that 30 minutes are short and that I mentioned it too short, here is some context et al.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/truth-social-is-mastodon-trump/
https://www.vice.com/en/article/mastodon-lawyers-tell-truth-social-trump-source-code-public/
https://www.vice.com/en/article/mastodon-lawyers-tell-truth-social-trump-source-code-public/
Mister Moo 🐮
sewi
Tor Iver Wilhelmsen@micahflee Well, teeeechnically Truth Social runs on Mastodon, though it is a non-federating instance. Still, sponsored results are just ads.
@micahflee this is evil
Orca 🌻 | 🎀 | 🪁 | 🏴🏳️⚧️@micahflee Checks out /s
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2021/10/trumps-new-social-media-platform-found-using-mastodon-code/
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2021/10/trumps-new-social-media-platform-found-using-mastodon-code/
Trump's new social media platform found using Mastodon code
From media reports and individual findings that various people have presented to us, it seems that the new social media platform owned by the former president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, so-called Truth Social, is using Mastodon’s source code with various visual adjustments. The platform has not formally launched yet, but it was made accessible ahead of time. Users were quick to note that the terms of service included a worrying passage, claiming that the site is proprietary property and all source code and software are owned or controlled by them or licensed to them:
Shailesh Kumar 🇫🇯🇺🇸
BogDrakonov@micahflee Ads on the premium priced phone are already bullshit without this.
Chris Mills@micahflee thankfully this is not the case on my iPhone when si search for #Mastodon
Richard Deeming
Frank’s Ting@RichardDeeming @micahflee contemptible that Apple support this.
Code of Amor 💘@franksting @RichardDeeming @micahflee Capitalists! (said in the tone of "Pirate!" - Jack pointing to himself)
Andrew 
@RichardDeeming @micahflee all it's done is trained me to always ignore the first result when searching in the app store or play store.
Brian Grinter
solsticeShouldn't be allowed. For me it's obvious that it's not Firefox. And for a long time I used to think: "how does this even work? Everyone can see that it's not Firefox". Until I was on a plane and overheard someone to try to install the app off the airplane to link your phone to the plane (??). They installed Crunchyroll instead of the app made by the airline as it was the top result. To me the name difference was extremely clear but it's not for everyone.
ChemicalTribe@micahflee
Apple isn't an ad company, but they still have an ad take half the screen over your result, unlike Google/android.
Also one of the reasons i returned my iphone11.
Bit_form
Codey McCodeface@micahflee @catsalad I don't see it (I'm in US). Maybe their ad run ended. I also have personalized ads turned off, so it may be targeted?
Shihab Mehboob@micahflee Slightly late to this, but if you were searching for something new, you may be interested in Saturn, which I released yesterday: