I agree wholeheartedly. Spam (email, if that's the comparison here) can be sent by anyone to anyone. Advertising (and I can't believe this would need explaining

I agree wholeheartedly. Spam (email, if that's the comparison here) can be sent by anyone to anyone. Advertising (and I can't believe this would need explaining, unless my understanding is ridiculously simplified) involves a business transaction between two parties: Party #1: I want to run this ad on your network Party #2: OK, pay me money and we'll run it The party being paid (should - and this seems to be the crux of the issue at hand) be responsible for what they're serving up because otherwise they could be serving up viruses, malware, Russian propaganda, etc. The ad network (looking at your Google and Facebook) are the party serving the advertisement to the public; distributing the ad as software, handing out the flyers containing the message, whatever analogy you prefer. I'm starting down the "should" slippery slope here: The ad network has (should have) a responsibility to both police the content for obvious malevolence and the ability to point to a legitimate, traceable Party #1 to hold legally responsible for the kind of content in question here. What are the rules governing TV, radio, and print advertising? Could a TV ad company get away with this same advert? If not, why is internet advertising held to a less stringent set of rules? Could I pay Facebook to run an ad that's actually a recently released full length movie? Separate topic: Do they wonder why ad-blocking is an increasingly popular practice?