Advertising is just "information". :/ and information 'manipulates' people who consume it. But I'm not sure why you consider that a bad thing. Probably about h

Advertising is just "information". :/ and information 'manipulates' people who consume it. But I'm not sure why you consider that a bad thing. Probably about half the posts on HN are 'adverts'. They are posts that have a message, urging us, the readers, to consider this information and possibly act on it. That's an advert. Your previous point "Ads often mislead people"... News often misleads people. People often mislead other people. It's not unique to advertising by any means.