3 ms·

Right, these are legal and regulated forms of manipulation. Covert manipulation is mostly sanctioned through platform TOS and laws.

• 323 5y ago
  You confuse "legal and regulated" with "transparent to the public". When Ford pays money to product place one of it's cars in a movie, that might be declared and invoiced in some contract, but you as a film watcher will never know it (unless they make a point of announcing it). So please explain how movie product placement is not covert. The same with PR, think tanks, and a lot of advertising.
  • uniqueuid 5y ago
    I am not confusing these terms. As usual, they represent a spectrum of desirability, harm, regulation and sanctions. Complete transparency to the public is of course an utopian goal. The key here is that political influence is handled very differently from commercial influence. Regulation of un-branded advertisements vary by country with some being more lenient and others more strict. But political content is frequently held to higher standards, and should be.
    • 323 5y ago
      Commercial content can be political content these days. Product placing a Ford truck and guns versus a Tesla car and rainbow t-shirts.