
How Is Disinformation Gaming Ad Tech? [pdf] - DyslexicAtheist
https://disinformationindex.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/GDI_Ad-tech_Report_Screen_AW16.pdf
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12xo
The rise of fake news, disinformation and the subsequent flaring of ignorance
and hate are directly related to the currency of the web - ad imps.

This is not new but has been exaggerated by the scale and the lack of any
human oversight that Google and other ad exchanges offer. Pair in the ability
to cookie match based on "intent" and thousands of other psycho-graphic and
historical data points, and you have a definitive problem.

For the longest time the issue was with the publishers themselves not being
vetted. As bot filters and traffic reviews became better, they switched from
sites themselves, to ads distributed.

But the real issue is that media (not just digital) has ZERO incentive to
change their practices. Attention is the currency of media and since
controversy and sensationalism draw more eyeballs, they are used by actors
across the spectrum to enhance their audience size and their revenue. Google
and FB use this to their advantage by providing no market basis for their
price.

IMHO Facebook's problem is not the ads, its the fact that content distribution
is sold as ads and 99/100 people cannot tell the difference between a friend
sharing something and that something having been a paid boost or placement.

The funny thing is that almost all of our current social issues are directly
tied to advertising pushing the wrong message to the wrong people and the
wrong time. Its the only reason we have Trump, or Kardashian for that matter
and is the reason words no longer have any actual meaning. Dont believe me?
Just look at words like Unlimited, guaranteed, free, etc for examples of this
perversion.

When we allowed the use of words without any legal blowback, we started down
the slippery slope that ended with Trump. A man who is neither virtuous nor
experienced at anything but playing the media sensationalism card better than
anyone...

~~~
jgeada
The problem of unqualified freedom of speech is that it amounts to freedom to
lie without consequence for those that have power. And once you can lie with
impunity, you have a mechanism to consolidate that power, either by disrupting
those hostile to you (fake news, astroturfing, etc) or by providing support to
those that support your goals.

~~~
mc32
You’re kind of right, but not quite.

When the bolsheviks took power the first thing they did was seize the means of
communication in order to control speech. They became the only authorized
voice to speak.

So it’s not freedom of speech but control of speech by a single entity that
establishes “narrative” that is the problem.

~~~
kazagistar
So maybe whats important is striving for an greater equality of power to
speak? Power is both politics and money, and if you have enough of it, you can
control the narrative and cause problems.

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forinti
It has recently come to light how Google helped fake news sites in Brazil:

[https://theintercept.com/2019/11/19/fake-news-google-
bloguei...](https://theintercept.com/2019/11/19/fake-news-google-blogueiros-
antipetistas/)

Apparently, the advertisers were not aware of where their ads were being
shown.

