
The Ad-Based Internet Is a Threat Against Human Rights and Democracy - MichaelKSpencer
https://medium.com/futuresin/the-ad-based-internet-is-a-threat-against-human-rights-democracy-263df273efa5
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ArchTypical
This trend waving away self-direction (implying apathy and outright stupidity)
seems wildly elitist and anti-democratic on its face. Yes, most people are
stupid about most subjects. So what? That doesn't mean you toss everything to
regulation. Either people will be careful about the important aspects of their
life and their neighbor's life or they won't flourish. It's ok that people
aren't living optimal lives according to someone else and it's ok to be
jealous of people who take advantage of others to a degree that they can't
comprehend. Advertising is not that profitable. Lots of people work in adtech
and do not get rich and even the big boys fall over with the razor thin
margins and delicate relationships (who is dumb enough to pay for ads these
days? Basically politicians and pharm companies). Google is exceptionally
large and good at what it's done, but in the long run everything ends...even
Google. I think this is clickbait describing phantom threats in a slow news
cycle.

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gleenn
Advertising is definitely lucrative otherwise you wouldn't have tech mega
corps like Facebook and Google making billions of dollars. Obviously small ad
companies won't make as much, but there are tons of them so obviously there is
plenty enough to go around.

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ArchTypical
I work in adtech.

> you wouldn't have tech mega corps like Facebook and Google making billions
> of dollars

They made billions of dollars. Now at scale, anything is billions of dollars.
That's again, razor thin margins.

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equalunique
Personally, I really like receiving ads for things that are relevant to my
interests. No, I am not some shill for an online ad company.

