Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams says company targeted teens with advertisements based on their ‘emotional state’
Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams says company targeted ads at teens based on their ‘emotional state’ | TechCrunch
That's how targeted advertising works yes. Not much of a reveal there?
I guess people need the obvious pointed out, and yeah fair enough.
Before I get dogpiled: I'm not defending them. I'm saying it's sad people actually think or thought the bar was higher than this. You can tell me Google, Xhitter, whatever did the same and I'd say the same thing. You're the product. You. Are. The. Product.
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 more disgusting.
edit: added word
I hear you, I'm saying this shouldn't have been news to anyone.
It's still important to point out and put on the public record.
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.
I agree it's not surprising to know that tech billionare ghouls sell their souls for cash, but 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 targeting kids.. She said it's so bad that she has almost never seen any of facebook higher ups let their kids use it because they know how hurtful it is
+cashing in on ethnic cleansing
+cashing in, aiding and selling data to oppressive governments, and even selling them AI tech to help them commit worse oppression and survalliance
Even teenage girls?
You seem to be saying that teenage girls should have known FB was manipulating them and just closed the app.
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
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.
It's not just parents. Government and the education systems too.
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'll 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--probably because Meta and other advertising companies have put a lot of effort in to keep this on the down low--which is why Wynn-Williams is speaking about it publically.
(not accusing you of defending them BTW, just my 2¢ that this goes beyond what most people would consider obvious, imo)
Book worth a read? Saw it on sale earlier and looked interesting
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yes
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. Is ad acceptance trending upward as people get younger and younger?
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.
https://backlinko.com/ad-blockers-users
https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-july-global-statshot
Lots and lots: https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=how+prevalent+is+adblocking+by+generation
But more to the point:
Women in every generation block less ads however, which I found interesting.
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.
People downvoting you don't realize how much of a science advertising is.
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.
Edit: Lemmy has been pretty kind to me for my clarifying edits when I do this to myself though, so thanks guys. Like this one :)
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. :-)
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.
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
IG is like the most important place for teens right now…
