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Facebook Is Gaslighting Users into Allowing Ad Tracking on iOS 14 (medium.com/big-tech)
47 points by anupamchugh on Feb 2, 2021 | hide | past | favorite | 22 comments



Wow Facebook really are pissed about this. Not just because of this but they've complained about it loudly at several events, posted newspaper ads etc.

It must really hurt their tracking. I didn't expect that, after all the app already knows who you are considering you have to log into it. I assumed they would have plenty of ways to correlate activity on other websites and apps. The linking of the ID to other apps must give them a lot of info, much more than I expected.

That means it's a really good thing. I hope Android will soon offer the same option.


It's almost like this is a diversion to their real plan to make a lot of money


More than their tracking it’ll hurt their Audience Network.


They gave guidance that it might reduce audience network revenue by 50%


"Gaslighting" is a very over-the-top way of putting this. You disagree with their value proposition. That doesn't mean they're gaslighting you.


Exactly what I thought.

For anyone unfamiliar with the term: As an example, gaslighting is when Alice and Bob had an argument. Alice slaps Bob in the face. Then, three weeks later, Bob goes back to Alice and asks "why did you slap me during that fight" and Alice would go "That never happened, Bob. You slapped me. Are you insane?" Thus making Bob question his memory and sanity by insisting on a false narrative.

What Facebook is doing is simply trying to lure people, it doesn't mean they are trying to question their sanity.


"Apple, the pioneer of innovation" -- this article isn't very neutral.

To the author: I would rather just see the actual popup instead of inflammatory language.


Apple invented this tracking identifier, now they’re inventing the removal of it.

Doubly inventive!


Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia.


The writer makes some huge leaps. Why is ad tracking a privacy nightmare? Personally, I like getting ads for things I'm interested in, rather than the spammy viagra/singles near you/etc. ads that were so commonplace on the web before ad tracking.

And how is Facebook telling you exactly what they use the tracking for "gaslighting"?


If every site and advertiser know who you are and knows what you are looking to buy, they might price a product or service for you, meaning higher prices. Just one of the issues with tracking.


No user in their right consciousness would click allow tracking. And Facebook knows that. So Facebook by showing a pre-empt message is essentially trying to picture personalized ads as good. Plus, by saying “support small businesses” they’re simply playing the victim card and diverting the attention away from data privacy. Facebook’s sole aim is to get users to click the allow button. If this isn’t gaslighting then I’m not sure what is.


https://www.wired.com/story/track-location-with-mobile-ads-1...

Basic summary trawl someone’s social media. Get a small handful of their least common interests. Run an ad that only hits a dozen or so people in even a metropolitan area.

This is something that is cheap enough that private investigators and legal firms looking for dirt on a target will do so.


I have one simple policy in 2021. I ignore people who use the term "gaslighting". It's a proxy sign that the person doesn't like the idea, but doesn't have a good complaint and instead just uses modern progressive buzzwords.


‘Gaslighting’ has been around as a colloquial term since the 60s and isn’t inherently progressive.

Further, refusing to hear an argument because it has a term you don’t like is much more about you than it is the other people.


Sure, it's about me. I'm a qualified and capable person when it comes to analysis and discourse. What i'm saying is that after seeing the word used frequently, recently, I've found that nearly everybody is either misusing, or overusing it, for internet points. Hence my point about it being a proxy for people who are not arguing in good faith.


> I'm a qualified and capable person when it comes to analysis and discourse.

Are you, uh, entirely certain about that?


if you're making a gaslighting joke: ha-ha. If you are asking a serious epistemological question, then strictly speaking, no. That said, I definitely believe I'm qualified and capable when it comes to discourse, and in general, the feedback I get on my writing is consistent with that.


They're obviously discussing the term in its colloquial context. Further, your rebuttal says more about you than it does the other poster since you're really just arguing that people who don't entertain dogwhistles are failing in some arbitrary regard.


The film 'Gaslight' had Ingrid Bergman starring, so not exactly an obscure film. The plot was about what you'd expect. It came out in 1944.

But, hey, if you want to exclude arguments because of one "modern" trigger word, I doubt anyone will stand in your way.


I know the origin of the word and its history. Its usage has increased tremendously in the past few years.

I think we've reached the point where people should push back on invalid usage; I see somebody just posted the following to Hacker News: https://thingofthings.wordpress.com/2020/11/16/hermeneutical...

It is not gaslighting when someone contradicts you, or intentionally causes you to doubt your beliefs, or leaves you uncertain of what you believe, or even makes you think that they think you are crazy. Gaslighting is about someone lying to you in a way that causes you to lose trust in your own capabilities as a rational person: your ability to reason, your competence to figure out the truth, your capacity to remember things in a broadly accurate fashion even if you are sometimes fuzzy on details, your knowledge of your own feelings and thoughts and desires. And if your mind is unreliable… well, you’ll have to rely on someone else.


The prior history of the word is irrelevant to the point that was made about its recent usage.




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