
Girl flooded with beauty ads on Instagram - hhs
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48677333
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deogeo
> If you are an Instagram user and you would like to see which ad categories
> the platform has assigned to you, go to the settings menu in the app, then
> follow this path: Security / Access Data / Ads / Ads Interest.

If the BBC wanted to be helpful, they could teach how to install uBlock
Origin, instead of how to help corporate when their spying fails.

~~~
Aromasin
To be fair, as much as it doesn't help things, it is entertaining to see what
Instagram thinks I like and is a feature I didn't know existed. I recently un-
followed everyone besides the people I know IRL (so no more celebs, memes and
instachicks) and, combined with the obfuscation software I use now, the ads
suggestions are all over the place. For a male, 20-something year old nerdy
engineer I apparently have a real love of all things 'comsmetics, hair
products, spas, dresses, beauty, and tattoos'!

~~~
londons_explore
People need to realise that these categories are _not_ what web services use
to target.

Instead, they are an approximation of the underlying data, which is really
used for targeting.

Have an a analogy:

I have a photo of a crime suspect. I would describe it as "man with beard in
yellow jacket".

When looking for the matching person, I _could_ look for all other men with
beards, or I could go back to the original photograph and try to find a
matching face. What's likely to give the most accurate result? Clearly the
face matching. They show you the text though, but underneath they use the face
for the actual targeting.

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Nyrox
In other news: Water is still wet

> "There are lots of things you think about with your kids on social media,
> but advertising isn't really one of them," said Ms Winter

Under which moon did this lady live for the last decade? Instagram is probably
the single piece of technology I would wish away the instant I got a magic
wand.

~~~
rchaud
May have been part of a generation that grew up when legislation to ban child-
focused TV advertising had been in effect. If you don't use IG, it's easy to
miss that it's become a cesspool of advertising. Both "Promoted Post" garbage
as well as Influencer's sponsored posts.

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jammygit
I can’t believe the business models that involve targeting kids these days are
legal and so widely accepted

~~~
nanoservices
Not saying its right but Instagram terms of services states that they person
cannot be younger than 13, this is a instance of the person being 12. The
parents need to be more responsible and not create or allow social media
accounts for their kids when they are that young.

~~~
orloffm
Unfortunately that practically means ostracism for such kids, as everyone uses
these apps.

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russh
"Update 19th June 2019: Since this article was published, Tamsin Winters has
found out that her niece did receive a broader range of adverts than she
originally believed. In addition to the 13 adverts mentioned, she also saw ads
for trainers, chocolates, a drink and women's football."

So.... never mind....

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DocTomoe
> The girl, who is just about to turn 13 - the minimum age for Instagram - has
> recently joined the social network.

So what we are seeing here is a TOS violation?

