A lot of “Techlash” Civil Society seems hung up on the idea that (a) advertising is evil and (b) targeted (i.e. “relevant”) advertising is even moreso.
Hence soundbite vitriol like this:
The irony is that if this actually worked as described, @Nextdoor would be the richest platform on the planet
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2 responses to “The irony is that if this actually worked as described, @Nextdoor would be the richest platform on the planet”
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While hyperbolic, the only inaccuracy here is the percentage of revenue attributed to that section of the advertising model. A significant portion comes from businesses legitimately looking to expand their horizons and distribute the products to end users.
But facebook does surveil users. It has historically only ever paid lip service to privacy. It does, intentionally or not, promote divisive content by virtue of attempting to maximize screen time and revenue.
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Speaking as a former employee who put Facebook onto the dark web and subsequently led the first effort to put into an encryption into Facebook messenger: yes surveillance or logging of interest in things, but as far as “lip service” goes that’s one hell of an understatement.
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