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Meta May Allow Instagram, Facebook Users in Europe to Pay and Avoid Ads

18 points by thm 3y ago

whimsicalism 3y ago
My understanding was this was also of questionable legality in the EU (some newspapers in Germany do it legally, but IIRC the EDPB (EU gdpr regulator) has said this sort of approach is non compliant. I recall that Austria recently ruled this approach illegal.
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
What is an "ad", though? Is it just the sponsored content, or is it all the crap that they shovel into your timeline "recommended for you" and "you may like this too" and all the thirst traps promoting their onlyfans? I was hanging around with some Roller Derby players around 2005. It was the days of MySpace and such, right? And I was heavily into that, and I made a lot of friends on MySpace, and then I was sort of intimidated when one of the rollergirls expressed her naked hatred for men who "collect women on the Internet like so many fucking butterflies". Anyway, there was a man and wife I was chatting with, and I mentioned MySpace, and the man said "why should I use MySpace and social media? Why?" and I launched into some optimistic explanation, and he interrupted me to shout "it's just to get spammed! They are just going to spam us!" and I paused and said, well, yes, that's true. So I think that is the fundamental purpose of social media platforms: you're signing up to be spammed. Any pretense of keeping up with friends, family or the news headlines is a flimsy excuse. You're going to get spammed, by hook or by crook, and the sky's the limit.
- chanar 3y ago
  Couldn’t have said it any better. I’m more annoyed by suggested posts but ads have become pretty bad now as well. Just why not make a paid engine/layout that doesn’t have it cluttered with annoying (and stupid) posts, games and other features like this.
- smileysteve 3y ago
  This is my current experience on Facebook; I'm on it for like 2 community groups. But if I ever go to the "home" feed, it is only recommended TikTok/Reels/Shorts and Memes from people I'm not friends with. Related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37334737 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37334737 Social media decline: Users are shifting to messaging apps and group chats
EMIRELADERO 3y ago
https://archive.is/ZmJhx https://archive.is/ZmJhx
type0 3y ago
Great and you'll get the worst of both worlds!

18 points by thm 3y ago

My understanding was this was also of questionable legality in the EU (some newspapers in Germany do it legally, but IIRC the EDPB (EU gdpr regulator) has said this sort of approach is non compliant. I recall that Austria recently ruled this approach illegal.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago

What is an "ad", though? Is it just the sponsored content, or is it all the crap that they shovel into your timeline "recommended for you" and "you may like this too" and all the thirst traps promoting their onlyfans? I was hanging around with some Roller Derby players around 2005. It was the days of MySpace and such, right? And I was heavily into that, and I made a lot of friends on MySpace, and then I was sort of intimidated when one of the rollergirls expressed her naked hatred for men who "collect women on the Internet like so many fucking butterflies". Anyway, there was a man and wife I was chatting with, and I mentioned MySpace, and the man said "why should I use MySpace and social media? Why?" and I launched into some optimistic explanation, and he interrupted me to shout "it's just to get spammed! They are just going to spam us!" and I paused and said, well, yes, that's true. So I think that is the fundamental purpose of social media platforms: you're signing up to be spammed. Any pretense of keeping up with friends, family or the news headlines is a flimsy excuse. You're going to get spammed, by hook or by crook, and the sky's the limit.

chanar 3y ago
Couldn’t have said it any better. I’m more annoyed by suggested posts but ads have become pretty bad now as well. Just why not make a paid engine/layout that doesn’t have it cluttered with annoying (and stupid) posts, games and other features like this.
smileysteve 3y ago
This is my current experience on Facebook; I'm on it for like 2 community groups. But if I ever go to the "home" feed, it is only recommended TikTok/Reels/Shorts and Memes from people I'm not friends with. Related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37334737 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37334737 Social media decline: Users are shifting to messaging apps and group chats

EMIRELADERO 3y ago

https://archive.is/ZmJhx https://archive.is/ZmJhx

type0 3y ago

Great and you'll get the worst of both worlds!