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in reply to babysmokesalot

Another classic day at Meta. I still wonder why people use their services.
in reply to HackThePlanet

It's free on poorer countries even for those without mobile internet data. And we know why the service is free...
in reply to TankovayaDiviziya

True, but I think the fact that a good portion of the services were the "first" to be used also comes into play.

As an example, I always think of WhatsApp, which in my country has (unfortunately) become the messaging service used by everyone, even businesses. WhatsApp was the first to arrive in a market where no one else offered that service (or offered it at its level), and thanks to this, it has gained a following of users who now, out of laziness, don't want to switch services even though they (perhaps) realize that there are better ones out there.

For many, they use it simply out of habit and the laziness of not wanting to switch to something else. Like those who used Internet Explorer because installing another, clearly better, browser was too much of a hassle.

in reply to buffing_lecturer

I mean even without any mobile credit, you can still browse Facebook in many developing countries.
in reply to buffing_lecturer

Because people forgot about "net neutrality" and, for example in my country, mobile operators include 2GB WhatsApp, 4GB Facebook etc. in their packages. The newest trend I saw is "unlimited data for ChatGPT". Internetust be classified as a utility globally. But at this rate, soon power companies will have "100kWh free for Bosch appliances" or something like that.
in reply to kureta

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to babysmokesalot

Thank god I never see ads anywhere, reminds me of the promoted posts on Google that phish unfortunate non adblock users into handing over their login credentials.
in reply to ashbeef

What's funny is they are constantly pushings ads right now that says the google playstore is the safest place and has no malware. Ironically some around 60-70% of malware comes from the google playstore directly.

Yet google is pushing so hard for third party apps to not be able to be installed on android what soever. Meaning you HAVE to go to the playstore filled with malware, and can't even use some FOSS github alternative.

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to FoxAlive

The initial news was luckily for us quite overblown if it really just turns out to be a 24hr wait to permanently install third party apks then I'm pleasantly happy with it.

Still have a Graphene Pixel setup in a drawer for the inevitable day I'll need it

in reply to ashbeef

Yeah for now. Googles also forcing their captchas to only work with official android software. If its not one way theres another way. Google has a million tenticles independently acting at once. You cut one off theres 4 more that where doing stuff you couldnt even consider could happen.

Also developers still need to register and give out their ID. What if someone makes an app that alerts you when ICE is going to break into your home? Now the goverment knows who the developer is and lock him up for 180 years for terrorism. This is still a loss for us, and in line with googles goals. Google is still taking steps forward and will not stop. This is a constant fight.

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to babysmokesalot

Ads on Instagram are only published after first being approved by its moderation technology... When the BBC reported one of the ads to Instagram, the social media platform responded 24 hours later saying the post did not violate its "community guidelines".


Makes the mass layoffs in the tech sector all the more galling.

in reply to babysmokesalot

who the hell at facebook is approving these ads?

||no i am not calling it meta||

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to shio

They're auto approved. Automation is not only a money saving strategy but a product strategy more si.
in reply to babysmokesalot

Meta would let accounts reported for human trafficking purposefully remain active for 17 days or more if it helped with engagement.

So accounts where someone was potentially being trafficked and forced to prostitution where encouraged by meta to remain up for as long as possible.

Meta also is losing a lawsuit for being dangerous to teens. Yet every advertisement I get for them on YouTube, reddit etc claim they have saftey features for teens. Everything they say is the opposite.

Also this problem is mostly Ais fault.

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to FoxAlive

Facebook and Instagram was allowing ads for cocaine to be shipped through the mail in Canada.. probably still are m.youtube.com/watch?v=H1aaiTgB…
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to FoxAlive

I was with you until the last line. This has nothing to do with A.I. Facebook has been doing this kind of stuff long before A.I. was a thing.

You can be anti-A.I. that's fine, but don't conflate the two when one proceeds the other. You're just hurting your own argument when you throw in things like that.

in reply to oppy1984

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to FoxAlive

They were super bad (like, global leaders in innovating new levels of bad) before LLMs took off, not that controversial or difficult of a distinction.

Completely agree with the commenter who replied to you, and suddenly saying "it's mostly AI" at the end frankly just lets them off the hook. Cuz they were doing this the old fashioned human way for a long time, and it bears remembering. Paying workers in other countries to traumatize themselves horrifically in order to classify and censor the worst of the worst.

in reply to PolarKraken

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to FoxAlive

Ah okay, didn't realize you were disambiguating between AI and LLM, and yeah they've been using various AI capabilities since before the LLM boom. Turns out I don't disagree with you.
in reply to FoxAlive

I completely agree that facebook is an evil company and guilty of most if not all that you have laid out. I qualified that since some of the things you stated I have not heard of since I don't pay attention to facebook for the most part.

The second half of my comment was directed at your final line "Also this problem is mostly Ais fault." this just sounds like a broad anti-AI statement and not one aimed at facebook's use of AI. I was trying to communicate that many people, myself included, have found AI to be very helpful as a tool, and a generalized statement tagged onto the end of your comment could be seen as anti-AI to those who see value in AI.

I fully agree I could have explained that better in my previous comment, that is on me. I do hope this helps clarify my statement, and you can see that, while not worded the best, my intention was only to help you not turn others away from your core argument.

in reply to oppy1984

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to FoxAlive

You say you are used to tailoring to your audience, let me share something that it took me far to long to understand. Those that can express their thoughts calmly and concisely, will always be more well received.

On the commercial AI and Epstein class, yes many of the top people in the industry are involved with that. But why limit your self when you have the same tool your enemy has? Is it not better to use AI to develop open source alternatives that will bring them down? Would the irony not be the sweetest if they were brought down by their own tool?

Do with these thoughts as you wish, disregard them if they have no meaning for you.

in reply to oppy1984

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to FoxAlive

I promote the use of AI since I've seen massive benefits since I started using it, also I feel like everyone should learn to use it since I believe it's here to stay. That being said, I do hope open source models, and the hardware to run them become more accessible and we move to self hosting our LLMs and only offloading certain tasks to a providers API when appropriate.

I think we're on the same side politically, we just have vastly different approaches. You do what you feel is best, as will I.

Just food for thought, I took two days to reply because I saw a wall of text and found it overwhelming. I suspect that is the reaction of most people. If you feel you absolutely can't leave anything out, consider at least putting a few points in a bullet point list, if nothing else it breaks up the text and makes it seem a bit less overwhelming.

in reply to babysmokesalot

At the end of the day this is direct policy of Meta and they should be directly responsible for all harms ads create.

I genuinely don't understand how anyone could argue otherwise - if one has a billboard above their house and put some CSAM on there they would be in prison. But not Meta? Who's going to prison for this?