3 ms·

I'm not sure I'd want my government spending money on ads anyway.

gruez 3y ago
The government needs to get out messages to its citizens. If ads on facebook is more cost effective than sending out mailers or whatever, why shouldn't they spend money on facebook ads?
- onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago
  Who is living under a rock and not getting bombarded with political BS every second on FB but seeing FB ads from PBS? I'm just not sure that's a good forum for governments to try to get out a message.
  - throw0101c 3y ago
    If social media platforms can identify certain demographics, like those who smoke cigarettes, then why wouldn't the government use that to (e.g.) target 'Would you like help to quit smoking?' program availability ads to them? * https://www.ontario.ca/page/support-quit-smoking https://www.ontario.ca/page/support-quit-smoking * https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/smoking-tobacco/quit-smoking.html https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/smoking-toba...
    - rightbyte 3y ago
      The government can put ads on the packages of cigarettes them self for free. Without the moral defeat of benefiting from spyware. Why would you want to waste tax money on Zuckerberg's mansions. Etc.
- everybodyknows 3y ago
  Because it selectively reaches only Facebook users. So the government can begin tailoring messages to certain demographics, for maximum "effect".
- BluePen7 3y ago
  Because our government doesn't understand technology and generally gets fleeced anytime they encounter it. Remember the Phenix pay system? It was an IBM project that was supposed to save us 70 million a year, instead they paid IBM an additional 2+ BILLION to try and fix the broken crap they'd delivered. Never even worked, they're currently taking bids to replace it already. 80% of public servants had pay issues, many were foreclosed on because they couldn't pay their mortgages, someone even killed themselves. And we expect the Canadian government to accurately determine ROI on digital ad spend? That's hard enough for skilled people in the space (some who have found it to have no effect altogether). Our government is simply going to be fleeced for every penny they have (and then some). Remember, these are the same people who shut down the CRA website every night. Can't even access your tax info after hours.
  - derefr 3y ago
    > Remember the Phenix pay system? It was an IBM project that was supposed to save us 70 million a year, instead they paid IBM an additional 2+ BILLION to try and fix the broken crap they'd delivered. Never even worked, they're currently taking bids to replace it already. Do you really believe that this was a result of bad in-the-moment decision-making at all levels, instead of a result of being trapped by previously-negotiated long-term vendor exclusivity agreements? (In my experience, governments are generally good at cutting their losses — they're far more rational re: the sunk-cost fallacy than individual people are. So it would be surprising to me if this were true.)
    - AlbertCory 3y ago
      Actually, they're as bad as everyone else at that, e.g, Obamacare website; state of Maine website; lots more. And then we have, by three or four orders of magnitude, the great Sunk Cost Fallacy of all time, by anyone ever: Not ending World War One in 1915, 1916, or 1917: "All those lives and treasure we've spent! We have to get something for it." And so we had the Spanish Flu, which killed more than the combat deaths, and of course, the combat deaths. https://www.history.com/news/spanish-flu https://www.history.com/news/spanish-flu Not to mention World War Two.
  - 3y ago
- stan3223 3y ago
  Social media companies are really in business of personal data collection. Based on younger generation being so switched on about news I think 'news' are really being force fed into your social feed (rather than you fetching the news). Governments spending tax payer money with these companies are really approving this sort of unethical behavior.
bawolff 3y ago
Idk, if we could bring back the heritage minutes and the canadian house hippo, I'm all for it.
vortext 3y ago
I don't agree with the bill, but yes, I don't want the government to spend money on Meta ads either.

The government needs to get out messages to its citizens. If ads on facebook is more cost effective than sending out mailers or whatever, why shouldn't they spend money on facebook ads?

onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago
Who is living under a rock and not getting bombarded with political BS every second on FB but seeing FB ads from PBS? I'm just not sure that's a good forum for governments to try to get out a message.
- throw0101c 3y ago
  If social media platforms can identify certain demographics, like those who smoke cigarettes, then why wouldn't the government use that to (e.g.) target 'Would you like help to quit smoking?' program availability ads to them? * https://www.ontario.ca/page/support-quit-smoking https://www.ontario.ca/page/support-quit-smoking * https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/smoking-tobacco/quit-smoking.html https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/smoking-toba...
  - rightbyte 3y ago
    The government can put ads on the packages of cigarettes them self for free. Without the moral defeat of benefiting from spyware. Why would you want to waste tax money on Zuckerberg's mansions. Etc.
everybodyknows 3y ago
Because it selectively reaches only Facebook users. So the government can begin tailoring messages to certain demographics, for maximum "effect".
BluePen7 3y ago
Because our government doesn't understand technology and generally gets fleeced anytime they encounter it. Remember the Phenix pay system? It was an IBM project that was supposed to save us 70 million a year, instead they paid IBM an additional 2+ BILLION to try and fix the broken crap they'd delivered. Never even worked, they're currently taking bids to replace it already. 80% of public servants had pay issues, many were foreclosed on because they couldn't pay their mortgages, someone even killed themselves. And we expect the Canadian government to accurately determine ROI on digital ad spend? That's hard enough for skilled people in the space (some who have found it to have no effect altogether). Our government is simply going to be fleeced for every penny they have (and then some). Remember, these are the same people who shut down the CRA website every night. Can't even access your tax info after hours.
- derefr 3y ago
  > Remember the Phenix pay system? It was an IBM project that was supposed to save us 70 million a year, instead they paid IBM an additional 2+ BILLION to try and fix the broken crap they'd delivered. Never even worked, they're currently taking bids to replace it already. Do you really believe that this was a result of bad in-the-moment decision-making at all levels, instead of a result of being trapped by previously-negotiated long-term vendor exclusivity agreements? (In my experience, governments are generally good at cutting their losses — they're far more rational re: the sunk-cost fallacy than individual people are. So it would be surprising to me if this were true.)
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
    Actually, they're as bad as everyone else at that, e.g, Obamacare website; state of Maine website; lots more. And then we have, by three or four orders of magnitude, the great Sunk Cost Fallacy of all time, by anyone ever: Not ending World War One in 1915, 1916, or 1917: "All those lives and treasure we've spent! We have to get something for it." And so we had the Spanish Flu, which killed more than the combat deaths, and of course, the combat deaths. https://www.history.com/news/spanish-flu https://www.history.com/news/spanish-flu Not to mention World War Two.
- 3y ago
stan3223 3y ago
Social media companies are really in business of personal data collection. Based on younger generation being so switched on about news I think 'news' are really being force fed into your social feed (rather than you fetching the news). Governments spending tax payer money with these companies are really approving this sort of unethical behavior.

bawolff 3y ago

Idk, if we could bring back the heritage minutes and the canadian house hippo, I'm all for it.

vortext 3y ago

I don't agree with the bill, but yes, I don't want the government to spend money on Meta ads either.