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robin

@res260 @bagder

I believe purely context-based ads perform just as well while avoiding hundreds of the downstream negative consequences for society.

The fine-grained user tracking is mostly there so that the big platforms can *market* themselves as having some ad targeting superpower which there's actually scant evidence for.

These over-complex ad systems are actually worse for the advertiser because their complexity makes them opaque and unpredictable.

14 July at 23:13 | Wall-to-wall | Open on union.place
8 comments
Émilio Gonzalez

@nottrobin @bagder So you think everybody who advertises on facebook and such are fooled by some scam by Big Ad? And that Cambridge Analytica had worthless data and that all the political parties are wrong thinking they gain an advantage microtargetting users for their political ad?

Imo the idea that "tracking users for ads works, actually" is much much more plausible.

14 July at 23:31 | Open on infosec.exchange
robin

@res260 @bagder

I'm not aware of any persuasive evidence that Cambridge Analytica had much of a political impact. If you have some please send it my way.

I agree, microtargeting would be most useful in politics - much more than commerce. Of course political campaigns would want to use anything claiming to microtarget.

But my understanding there also is that the verifiable impact is minimal and the most standout campaigns rarely if ever cite Facebook as the differentiator.

14 July at 23:44 | Open on union.place
ClickyMcTicker

@nottrobin @res260 @bagder
First link on a search engine:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambri
The section is titled Elections, and from there you can scroll the subsections by country.
There are dozens of references if you’d like to check sources.

15 July at 0:56 | Open on hachyderm.io
robin

@ClickyMcTicker @res260 @bagder How stupid of me not to read the very first most obvious thing 🤦

</joke>

If you delve into those sources you'll notice they're all about the scandal, the invasion, the secrecy, the widespread spying on millions.

I've yet to find a source on that page that gives any evidence for political impact. I've also heard a fair amount of sceptical expert opinion on this.

Article titles like amp.theguardian.com/news/2018/ *imply* impact but don't actually show it.

@ClickyMcTicker @res260 @bagder How stupid of me not to read the very first most obvious thing 🤦

</joke>

If you delve into those sources you'll notice they're all about the scandal, the invasion, the secrecy, the widespread spying on millions.

I've yet to find a source on that page that gives any evidence for political impact. I've also heard a fair amount of sceptical expert opinion on this.

15 July at 11:23 | Open on union.place
Jack Yan (甄爵恩)

@res260 @nottrobin @bagder It works on big social because of the data points, but for the rest of us trying to make a living through publishing with regular sites, I donʼt see tracked ads having some superior power to the old contextual ones. Most of the ad companies that contact me are full of opaque jargon and canʼt give me any reason to run with them.

15 July at 6:17 | Open on mastodon.social
robin

@jackyan @res260 @bagder I'm still not willing to take "it works on big social" as self-evident. And I've yet to see convincing evidence.

15 July at 11:27 | Open on union.place
Jack Yan (甄爵恩)

@nottrobin @res260 @bagder Letʼs hope for all our sakes that it really is a giant con.

15 July at 12:21 | Open on mastodon.social
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