this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2025
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I didn't see the testimony, but I did read her book.
When most people think "targeted advertising", I think they are thinking about something like: this user is a middle-class woman between 18 and 25 who enjoys bicycles, so we'll show her ad X.
According to Wynn-Williams, Facebook/Meta is doing things like detecting when a user uploads, then immediately removes a photo--detecting that as a moment of emotional vulnerability (that is, the user was feeling self-conscious about their appearance), then bombarding them with ads in that moment for beauty products.
I think the former is 'obvious' to most people, but the latter probably isn't--probably because Meta and other advertising companies have put a lot of effort in to keep this on the down low--which is why Wynn-Williams is speaking about it publically.
(not accusing you of defending them BTW, just my 2¢ that this goes beyond what most people would consider obvious, imo)
Book worth a read? Saw it on sale earlier and looked interesting
I got it from the library, so I won't comment how much money it's worth.
Hard to say I enjoyed it, since the conduct described within is nearly without expection horrifying. I expect that most people on Lemmy would probably be unsurprised by it.
I found it to be a pretty quick read, and I'm glad it's out there. If you're interested in the topic I'd say to give it a shot.
I was just venting really, I'm not actually surprised this isn't common knowledge. My bar for humanity already had tunnelled through the Mantel during covid, I think it's in the outer core by now.
I don't disagree with anything you're saying either.