
I Used Google Ads for Social Engineering - tysone
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/07/opinion/google-ads.html
======
rahimnathwani
The article is not as interesting as I had guessed from the title, because:

1\. It's not about the infosec meaning of social engineering, i.e. the author
wasn't trying to get login credenials or system access.

2\. It's loosely related to the other meaning of social engineering (causing
deliberate societal change), but the author's attempted influence was limited
to individuals (getting them to call a hotline).

A better title might be 'how I got 28% conversion for an ad landing page whose
CTA was a phone call'.

~~~
quickthrower2
Ads where you target a small number of people are of course cheap, making
pranks like [1] possible for next to no cost. The interesting thing is can you
cheaply run campaigns on influential people such a CEOs and politicians. I
think you probably could!

[1] [https://ghostinfluence.com/the-ultimate-retaliation-
pranking...](https://ghostinfluence.com/the-ultimate-retaliation-pranking-my-
roommate-with-targeted-facebook-ads/)

------
yo-scot-99
A couple of meta questions for the HN community:

1\. What percent of HN readers have a NYT subscription?

2\. There are far more comments here than the source -- is that appropriate?
Should the comments ride along w/ the article (for future reference and the
fact that they paid for the orginal story/reporting)

------
Jerry2
> _Those who bear the brunt of that abuse aren’t just the impatient and
> impulsive. More than 50 percent of people still can’t differentiate between
> an ad (redirect or not) and an organic result on Google._

Some reasarch [0] suggests the figure is much higher and around 60% (from
2017).

Over the past 12-13 years, Google has been steadily making changes as to how
they display ads to make them more and more invisible to the user. See the
graphic [1]. By making them more invisible, there's a greater chance that
they'll get clicked on and make Google more money. With each change, Google
probably added tens of billions of dollars in revenue.

[0] [https://www.smartinsights.com/paid-search-marketing-
ppc/paid...](https://www.smartinsights.com/paid-search-marketing-ppc/paid-
search-strategy/customers-dont-know-a-google-advert/)

[1] [http://searchengineland.com/figz/wp-
content/seloads/2016/07/...](http://searchengineland.com/figz/wp-
content/seloads/2016/07/google-ad-shading-labeling-history-update-2017.png)

------
Lowkeyloki
The Redirect Method sounds like it may be one of Jigsaw's projects. Jigsaw
recently got some bad press you may find interesting.[0]

Also, there was a similar experiment done in targeted ads on Facebook not too
long ago.[1]

[0] [https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vb98pb/google-jigsaw-
beca...](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vb98pb/google-jigsaw-became-toxic-
mess)

[1] [https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-secret-facebook-
war...](https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-secret-facebook-war-for-
mormon-hearts-and-minds)

------
skummetmaelk
> More than 50 percent of people still can’t differentiate between an ad
> (redirect or not) and an organic result on Google.

Just wow.

~~~
kerng
This is deliberate on Google's end. In fact they keep bluring the line between
ads and search results with updates more and more.

~~~
MrMember
They're doing this more and more in the Gmail Android app as well. First there
were no ads. Then they added ads to the top of the mail list. Now they're
interspersing ads between emails. I finally switched to K-9 because of how
intrusive it became.

~~~
lonelappde
I've never seen ads in Gmail on Android. Is there a setting to disable Gmail
ads?

~~~
nvrspyx
At least on iOS, they only show up if you have the Promotions category
enabled. I don't know if this also true on Android or a desktop browser (I use
uBlock).

------
tbabb
I am disappointed that the author ended on a "this is bad" message for
something with such clear potential for good.

Instead of tearing down, why did the author not apply the very thing he
learned and use his article's influence and the power of suggestion to
influence more people to use this tool positively?

~~~
philwelch
Because the NYT has finally realized that the tech industry in general and
Google in particular are direct competitors and existential threats to their
business. This is also the explanation for every other hit piece the
mainstream media writes about the tech industry.

~~~
SquishyPanda23
I know it's comforting to think that journalists draw attention to issues with
tech because we're tOtALlY dEStRoYIng ThEiR bUsSiNeSs MoDeL.

But does this trope really need to be pulled out in discussing every single
newspiece about tech that isn't flattering?

It doesn't add anything to the conversation that hasn't been said thousands of
times, and it fans the flames of anti-journalist sentiment.

~~~
philwelch
> But does this trope really need to be pulled out in discussing every single
> newspiece about tech that isn't flattering?

When it comes to dishonest hit pieces like this one, it is the only
constructive comment _to_ make. If journalists want to be respected, they
should produce respectable work. TFA ain't it.

~~~
claudiulodro
This is an opinion piece by an SEO consultant.

~~~
philwelch
Publish, then.

