The "manipulative" here refers to the UI actively or passively lying to you, and slightly nudging you towards doing something you do not want. Ads, or the way

The "manipulative" here refers to the UI actively or passively lying to you, and slightly nudging you towards doing something you do not want. Ads, or the way ads are presented can be manipulative too - e.g. articles which pose as informative, but in fact are written just to push a certain product. But if the ads are presented overtly, they are not manipulative in the sense that is discussed here.