Comment on Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams says company targeted ads at teens based on their ‘emotional state’

Sixtyforce@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

• qprimed@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  I am sure you already know, but the objection here is going after kids. literally profiling and then abusing their vulnerabilities for profit. this isnt your standard cereal box advertising, I think this is something much darker and disgusting.

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  • Sixtyforce@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I hear you, I’m saying this shouldn’t have been news to anyone.

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    • hark@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      It’s still important to point out and put on the public record.

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      • tischbier@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Yes! SO many people would never ever believe this kind of evil action without hard proof. It absolutely needs to be said and reported on! Any reaction less than this is dismissive and enabling.

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    • rimu@piefed.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Even teenage girls?

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      • 4am@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        No, I don’t think they meant the kids should have known better, but rather the adults should have known to keep them away from social media because it’s the ultimate cyber predator.

        God knows what a hyper-specific ML model is going to do for them

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      • Sixtyforce@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Idealistically I’d say their millennial parents failed them for having that ignorance to begin with, so yes they should know better.

        Realistically, you’re not wrong in your rebuttal.

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    • answersplease77@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      I can tell you commented after reading the title only and not the article. They not only target kids, they prey on their worst feelings. One example she mentioned is if a 13 yr old girl posted a selfie then deleted it and they concluded that she is suicidal or insecure about her weight for example, then it’s $$$ time for the Zuck bombarding her IP with diet and makeup products. Which is a lower low than just targwtting kids… She said it’s so bad that she has never seen any of facebook higher ups let their kids use it because they know how hurtful and addicting it is

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• brandon@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  I didn’t see the testimony, but I did read her book.

  When most people think “targeted advertising”, I think they are thinking about something like: this user is a middle-class woman between 18 and 25 who enjoys bicycles, so we’re show her ad X.

  According to Wynn-Williams, Facebook/Meta is doing things like detecting when a user uploads, then immediately removes a photo–detecting that as a moment of emotional vulnerability (that is, the user was feeling self-conscious about their appearance), then bombarding them with ads in that moment for beauty products.

  I think the former is ‘obvious’ to most people, but the latter probably isn’t.

  (not accusing you of defending them BTW, just my 2¢ that this goes beyond what most people would consider obvious, imo)

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  • gruhuken@slrpnk.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Book worth a read? Saw it on sale earlier and looked interesting

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    • brandon@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      I got it from the library, so I won’t comment how much money it’s worth.

      Hard to say I enjoyed it, since the conduct described within is nearly without expection horrifying. I expect that most people on Lemmy would probably be unsurprised by it.

      I found it to be a pretty quick read, and I’m glad it’s out there. If you’re interested in the topic I’d say to give it a shot.

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  • Sixtyforce@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I was just venting really, I’m not actually surprised this isn’t common knowledge. My bar for humanity already had tunnelled through the Mantel during covid, I think it’s in the outer core by now.

    I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying either.

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• gashead76@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  It is absolutely baffling that people don’t realize that people are the product. I’ve had some folks tell me that they understand and “don’t care” because the service is “free” or whatever, but then they get angry and freaked out when the platform knows exactly what they’re thinking, or at least seems to know.

  There’s definitely a deficit in understanding and education on what corporate social media really does.

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  • mPony@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    a) yes

    b) what I find really concerning is that they may have already figured out how to change people’s behaviour: what they think is funny, what they think is appropriate to say/do, where they want to travel to (if at all), how they feel about certain celebrities they like or dislike, what is believable or not believable, how they feel about certain politicians, who to vote for. Some people are probably more easy to sway on certain topics than others are. It’s not a stretch to guess that they probably already know various paths to make individuals into something they currently are not.

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    • Petter1@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Yes

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• TachyonTele@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  People downvoting you don’t realize how much of a science advertising is.

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  • Sixtyforce@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I think that’s true in general, but not why I was downdooted.

    My guess was the downvotes are people assuming I don’t think it’s worse to manipulate children vs adults and that I was somehow okay with it apathetically.

    I’m also an asshole occasionally when I see frustrating and disturbing things like this, so my kneejerk response is maybe where I fucked up.

    I really need to get into the habit of letting a post stew in preview for a hot second before I let loose my mental vomit lol because I sometimes get my ass kicked for not communicating what I’m actually trying to say effectively.

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    • qprimed@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      wow! self-reflection is something we all need more of (especially me). agree or disagree, converstaions are always better when everyone considers things for a moment. nice comment. :-)

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      • Sixtyforce@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Well, it’s a smaller community. Eventually I’ll recognize a lot of you, and I assume the same of me. So I try to keep it real.

        That idiom really dates me, huh.

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• Lfrith@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  I wonder how prevalent adblocking is among the younger generations. Even among my peer group I’d see people browsing the web with no adblock and a bunch of ads on websites when I’d glance at a sea of laptops. It was eye opening that outside of the social media I use that many people are just not tech literate. If ad acceptance trending upward as people get younger and younger?

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  • Sixtyforce@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I wonder how prevalent adblocking is among the younger generations

    Speaking of advertising being a science like another person commented, it means it’s data driven. System harvesting data to make targeted ads a thing among other things…there’s ample data on this. Like another person replied.

    backlinko.com/ad-blockers-users

    datareportal.com/…/digital-2024-july-global-stats…

    Lots and lots: www.ecosia.org/search?q=how+prevalent+is+adblocki…

    But more to the point:

    Image

    Women in every generation block less ads however, which I found interesting.

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    • IllNess@infosec.pub ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      My theory is women, while they do look at porn, look at porn less. Men will seek out a particular type of porn or a specific video and will not stop until they find it. They are also less likely to go on websites that abuse popups like sports streaming channels.

      Also I think women are also more likely to use social media which usually don’t have ad blockers.

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• asteriskeverything@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  The difference is this is tracking and targeting minors.

  And just because it is the status quo does not mean the general public is aware of it or the actual extent. It needs to be spelled out to them how and why.

  Honestly I find it hard to believe any teens are on Facebook now, maybe IG is still cool? Nothing like before. Idk I don’t think teens are on those platforms really

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  • Petter1@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    IG is like the most important place for teens right now…

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