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PSA: Reddit is Forcing Users to Accept Personalized Ads (www.macrumors.com)

submitted 9 months ago by fer0n@lemm.ee to c/technology@beehaw.org

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TL;DR: Reddit is removing the option to opt out of ad personalization, targeting ads based on user activity. Some specific ad categories can still be limited, but there's no more opt-out option.

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[-] krimson@feddit.nl 142 points 9 months ago

I have the feeling the whole internet is turning into shit rapidly. Youtube is crap, Reddit is crap, everything you use needs a cloud account, my doorbell is sending me notifications about a new product, wtf is up with that. I paid for that thing and now you send me ads? Pisses me off. This corporate greed is getting too much.

[-] KlausVonLechland@beehaw.org 69 points 9 months ago

There are upsides to it, like me spending considerably less time on the random internet surfing because my annoyance overshadows my dopamine kick.

[-] biddy@feddit.nl 9 points 9 months ago

Conversely, I'm so opposed to the enshitification that I've carefully tailored my internet usage to places that aren't shit and have no prospect of becoming shit, like Lemmy. Since I don't even have the motivation of not supporting an evil company, I'm more addicted that ever.

[-] FiniteLooper@lemm.ee 38 points 9 months ago

It’s really accelerated in the past few years. It’s nearly impossible to just read an article or use any product without giving it some kind of information. Lots of people (myself included many times unfortunately) just accept this. I mean, what can be done? If you want or need to use the thing you almost have no choice. If you want to avoid information leaks or being tracked you have to do so much research and work just to find an option, and then hope they don’t get purchased by a company that will reverse it all. I hate it.

[-] ono@lemmy.ca 22 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I mean, what can be done? If you want or need to use the thing you almost have no choice.

We have to act collectively.

Don't buy products or use services that require personal info. Of course, this means being willing to make do without some things, at least until they're convinced/forced to change or alternatives appear. In cases where the thing is a necessity, push back (clearly, articulately, and firmly) before sharing your info. Let them know that they're losing goodwill by being nosy, and that you'll stop buying from them as soon as you can.
Look for products/services that respect our privacy, and support them when possible.
Pass legislation that forbids needlessly collecting such info. Some regions (e.g. European Union, California) have already taken small steps in this direction. We need to take it further, everywhere.

I think it might also be helpful to have some kind of (independently verified) privacy labeling program for products and services. It would ease some of the burden from consumers when shopping around, and could become an easy marketing tool for companies that want to attract customers.

[-] dom@lemmy.ca 23 points 9 months ago

Honestly, number 3 is the only thing that would have marginal impact. Consumers don't have the time and energy to research every product to the depth required foe the first two.

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[-] krimson@feddit.nl 8 points 9 months ago

Yes it’s hard to deal with. I try to do my best to boycot companies that do this. Youtube, Reddit, Google search and chrome are things I don’t use anymore and the list keeps growing. My next doorbell will be a different brand but choices are limited ofcourse.

On the other hand, there are more and more alternatives popping up lately, Mastodon, Lemmy, Peertube. This is a sign that people are getting tired of this shit. I hope this trend continues.

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[-] explodicle@local106.com 18 points 9 months ago

IMHO it's cyclical.

Computers started out client server because of limited computing capacity
Then everybody got a PC and for a while, physical media were faster than downloads
Then we got oodles of bandwidth, so servers seemed practical again
Now servers are taking advantage of the trust we've placed in them
Next, we'll all enjoy a brief P2P revolution. Hooray!
After that, homomorphic encryption will make servers seem appealing again
Even farther into the future, the attacks against that encryption will no longer be tolerable

It will be decades more before humanity accepts the teachings of Richard Stallman.

[-] Misanthrope@lemmy.ml 7 points 9 months ago

Could you point me to some starting points or good reads by Richard Stallman? He got a solution to the cycle, then I'm down.

[-] Audacity9961@feddit.ch 13 points 9 months ago

Free software, Free society is his collection of essays.

[-] 30p87@feddit.de 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Except it's possible to work around it, with a minimal amount of knowledge, or by using alternatives.
Reddit? Lemmy.
Twitter? Mastodon.
YouTube? Peertube. For youtube just use piped.video
Ads? UBlock.

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[-] ultratiem@lemmy.ca 75 points 9 months ago

They just went from we love you guys to we don’t even give a fuck bend over boy in like 6 months.

Twitter has also shifted into a dystopian QQ wannabe.

Meta has been a dumpster fire for a decade now.

Tik Tok. heavy sigh

This kinda seems like end of times.

[-] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 55 points 9 months ago

if this is your version of the end of times, I suggest you take a look out your window at the burning hellscape of western north america and other locations around the globe. I also hope you're not too attached to birds or polar bears.

[-] Kerrigor@kbin.social 45 points 9 months ago

My world ends whenever someone doesn't understand hyperbole

[-] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 42 points 9 months ago

Now I become death, destroyer of literary device

[-] dom@lemmy.ca 8 points 9 months ago

You became Death? How did you manage that?

[-] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 9 points 9 months ago

By taking things literally, apparently

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[-] Palerider@feddit.uk 9 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

birds or polar bears

Phew! Luckily I just like penguins...

[-] FaceDeer@kbin.social 6 points 9 months ago

I have bad news. Penguins are a hybrid of bird and polar bear.

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[-] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 21 points 9 months ago

If it's the end of the era of social media, I'm plenty ok with that. Shit's been cancer for almost a decade now.

[-] ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

And may it usher in the era of antisocial media. The era where we all stop trying to impress each other, monetize each other, and just buy a thing and have it do the thing we bought it for, and not be bothered. Long may it reign.

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[-] ImADifferentBird@midwest.social 58 points 9 months ago

I'm increasingly glad I got the fuck out of there.

[-] Pratai@lemmy.ca 14 points 9 months ago

Same.

[-] ashtrix@lemmy.ca 37 points 9 months ago

Glad I left. It can only get worse...

[-] sphere_au@reddthat.com 26 points 9 months ago

Some of us remember there was a time when things like Reddit didn't exist, and neither did Facebook, Twitter etc. Lots of people lived just fine without them then. It's completely possible to take a hard line on this stuff and just refuse to use sites/apps/products that don't respect your privacy. Remember, there's always a smaller, friendlier or mechanical version.

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[-] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 21 points 9 months ago

Is that even legal in the EU?

[-] friendlymessage@feddit.de 25 points 9 months ago

In select countries, the option to turn off ad personalization will remain, allowing Reddit to continue to comply with GDPR restrictions.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 5 points 9 months ago

If it's anything like Twitter, it resigns you up to them anyway. There's no "turn off all" as far as I could see. The missus has to run some JS to untick all the boxes for her. Next week she'll go back and it will have ticked more.

[-] GrindingGears@lemmy.ca 20 points 9 months ago

Who cares? Haven't touched Reddit since they turned maggot.

[-] FaceDeer@kbin.social 11 points 9 months ago

I still dabble over there, but I had long forgotten that they have ads because I use uBlock Origin.

[-] Arotrios@kbin.social 16 points 9 months ago

"I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Spezymandias, Admin of Kings;
Look on my Reddit, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

[-] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 6 points 9 months ago

Hey great poem

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[-] JCreazy@midwest.social 15 points 9 months ago

I thought all you guys left Reddit already

[-] gonta@mander.xyz 16 points 9 months ago

I left r/popular and r/all but lemmy still not yet an adequate replacement for non-tech niche hobbies and interests.

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[-] TheBlue22@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Correct me if im wrong, but didn't EU ban this kind of practice?

If true, reddit would be fucked on the European market

[-] Ultimatenab@beehaw.org 14 points 9 months ago

Get Mozilla Firefox and add uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger and Ghostery plugins.

For over the top action, but a Raspberry Pi with an ethernet port and install PiHole and change your router DNS to the IP address of the PiHole and bask in glory that 99.999% of the crap out there, will not come or go out of your household.

[-] drwho@beehaw.org 6 points 9 months ago

It boggles the mind that there are people who still don't use adblocking measures these days.

[-] thingsiplay@kbin.social 12 points 9 months ago

I don't like Reddit.

[-] flicker@kbin.social 12 points 9 months ago

'Tis a silly place.

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[-] NotBadAndYou@ttrpg.network 9 points 9 months ago

Who views ads in Reddit? Except for all the shill posts, that is.

[-] LallyLuckFarm@beehaw.org 22 points 9 months ago

I'm pretty sure it's everyone who uses their app, since every third post and every fourth comment on it is an ad of some sort (or at least that's how it seemed). I'm sure anyone on old.r with an adblocker is unaffected but during the brief time I had their app installed there were enough ads to render it unusable and unnavigable.

[-] loops@beehaw.org 9 points 9 months ago

Shill posts, shill posts everywhere.

[-] mobyduck648@beehaw.org 8 points 9 months ago

There's enough astroturf on Reddit for a continent's worth of obnoxious suburban fake lawns.

[-] realitista@lemm.ee 9 points 9 months ago

I would care if I used Reddit, but I don't.

[-] AndreTelevise@lemm.ee 6 points 9 months ago

For those who are paranoid about this - some of you have a Facebook account, and half of you have a Google-filled smartphone. Privacy is important, but IMO there should be a balance between convenience and privacy - unless you actually do stuff that requires the utmost privacy or you need to stay fully anonymous everywhere as much as possible.

Division of identity - that is, having unique profiles/identities for different types of things you do on the web, using alias emails and anonymous email for certain things etc. - is a more viable strategy than trying to be 100% anonymous on the web.

Commercial social media that is free does and will track your activity on the site, whether for personalized ads or for algorithm purposes. Lemmy and Mastodon don't because they're FOSS, and don't run on ads (99.9% of the time).

[-] png@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 9 months ago

Apple is not considerably better for privacy either by rhe way. They just pay more for marketing that says they're more private than the rest of big tech.

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[-] FeelThePower@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 9 months ago

funny as im seeing this while nuking my old reddit account. havent used it since they took apollo from me and honestly i won't miss it. they are just digging their own grave at this point.

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