4 ms·

That's not what happened. The question was asking why a child saw a family member in an ad while playing a game. The Congressman just held up an iPhone while as

That's not what happened. The question was asking why a child saw a family member in an ad while playing a game. The Congressman just held up an iPhone while asking but it had nothing to do with the hardware. Of course there are numerous factors that may have contributed to the ad (and maybe Google wasn't involved) but they went with the smartass answer and the media ran with that narrative instead. It's not the greatest question but it's much more valid than what people are assuming it was. Video of the question (and notice the title): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmuROTmazco&t=60 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmuROTmazco&t=60

rtx 6y ago
How does this happen two different comments about one incident captured on video.
- nerdponx 6y ago
  Because people don't watch the original video, they read spin articles about the incident.
- manigandham 6y ago
  Read the comments on the video. People don't really comprehend much of the content they consume and are easily steered by headlines.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
JakeKalstad 6y ago
The kid dressed up like the monopoly man in the background was a welcomed surprise.
lawrenceyan 6y ago
Watched the video, and there was just a random guy dressed up with a mustache and top hat sitting behind the camera during the entire hearing?
- manigandham 6y ago
  Yes. He shows up in many hearings. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/monopoly-man-how-an-elaborate-act-of-protest-stole-the-show-on-capitol-hill/2019/01/11/983e73be-0d40-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/monopoly-m...
squeaky-clean 6y ago
He does specifically say "how does that show up on a 7 year old's iPhone" at 1:30, and those words will be entered into the record, which is probably why Sundar responded with that. iPhone claims aside, that's just a terrible question. Doesn't know what type of phone it was, doesn't know what type of game they were playing, doesn't give any details on the sort of photo shown or the ad copy shown. By all likelihood it sounds like this was a Facebook ad because of FB's "Social Ads" policy does use profile pictures of people on your friends list in their ads. On top of that, kids are not the smartest or most honest. It could have been a picture of any old man that looks similar and she assumes it's her grandpa. It could be a made-up story entirely.
- manigandham 6y ago
  Yes it's lacking too much context. Google's CEO probably didn't intend to be so dismissive but stalled since there wasn't a clear answer, and the statement ended up being snarky enough to move focus from the question to the "old people are bad at tech" bias, which was then reinforced by the media. It's unfortunate but it shows just how bad the understanding is on all sides, and why these corporations can get away with so much. The most recent hearings this year revealed how much training these CEOs get and how adept they are at maneuvering around any real investigation.
- blhack 6y ago
  No, it's not a terrible question. It is a general question about the business of online advertising, something that Sundar Pichai is unquestionably an expert about since he is the CEO of the largest company in the world that sells online advertising, and for all you know it could have been a web game that the grand daughter was playing in a chrome browser. A reasonable, non-combative answer to this question may have been something along the lines of: Senator, ad providers have little control over what the content of the ads that are going into these applications is. While I'm not sure what the specific ad that your granddaughter saw was, I can tell you that at google, there is a system where a user can report an ad as inappropriate. Again I'm not sure what the specific ad that you saw was, or if it was part of google's advertising platform, but if it was, you could have reported that to google for review, and I can understand why that would have been an uncomfortable experience for you.

rtx 6y ago

How does this happen two different comments about one incident captured on video.

nerdponx 6y ago
Because people don't watch the original video, they read spin articles about the incident.
manigandham 6y ago
Read the comments on the video. People don't really comprehend much of the content they consume and are easily steered by headlines.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

JakeKalstad 6y ago

The kid dressed up like the monopoly man in the background was a welcomed surprise.

lawrenceyan 6y ago

Watched the video, and there was just a random guy dressed up with a mustache and top hat sitting behind the camera during the entire hearing?

manigandham 6y ago
Yes. He shows up in many hearings. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/monopoly-man-how-an-elaborate-act-of-protest-stole-the-show-on-capitol-hill/2019/01/11/983e73be-0d40-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/monopoly-m...

squeaky-clean 6y ago

He does specifically say "how does that show up on a 7 year old's iPhone" at 1:30, and those words will be entered into the record, which is probably why Sundar responded with that. iPhone claims aside, that's just a terrible question. Doesn't know what type of phone it was, doesn't know what type of game they were playing, doesn't give any details on the sort of photo shown or the ad copy shown. By all likelihood it sounds like this was a Facebook ad because of FB's "Social Ads" policy does use profile pictures of people on your friends list in their ads. On top of that, kids are not the smartest or most honest. It could have been a picture of any old man that looks similar and she assumes it's her grandpa. It could be a made-up story entirely.

manigandham 6y ago
Yes it's lacking too much context. Google's CEO probably didn't intend to be so dismissive but stalled since there wasn't a clear answer, and the statement ended up being snarky enough to move focus from the question to the "old people are bad at tech" bias, which was then reinforced by the media. It's unfortunate but it shows just how bad the understanding is on all sides, and why these corporations can get away with so much. The most recent hearings this year revealed how much training these CEOs get and how adept they are at maneuvering around any real investigation.
blhack 6y ago
No, it's not a terrible question. It is a general question about the business of online advertising, something that Sundar Pichai is unquestionably an expert about since he is the CEO of the largest company in the world that sells online advertising, and for all you know it could have been a web game that the grand daughter was playing in a chrome browser. A reasonable, non-combative answer to this question may have been something along the lines of: Senator, ad providers have little control over what the content of the ads that are going into these applications is. While I'm not sure what the specific ad that your granddaughter saw was, I can tell you that at google, there is a system where a user can report an ad as inappropriate. Again I'm not sure what the specific ad that you saw was, or if it was part of google's advertising platform, but if it was, you could have reported that to google for review, and I can understand why that would have been an uncomfortable experience for you.