> These are not ads, rather something that is generated natively by the platform, not leading anywhere else but the platform that the user is already on.
Is this post Advertising a product? Yes, it is advertising a MetaAI product. Just because it's not an external ad, doesn't mean it's not an ad. Hulu shows me adds for other Hulu shows. This is an ad despite me not leaving that streaming site.
You are right, that is still and ad. Platform ads are really common for anyone running their own ad exchange. Sometimes its just to use up supply, other times its to meet in house goals.
This is technically true, these are advertisements. But not what first come to mind when reading the title "Instagram is using my face on ads targeted at me", which would be third-party ads, so this is my point. The title is sensational, a play on this misunderstanding, rather than being substantial.
My ick levels are about the same whether it’s used by third parties or just Meta. It’s a mega corporation using my likeness to manipulate my behavior for their own ends.
No one said third-party ads, the description is perfectly accurate to what is happening. The knee jerk reaction to call it sensationalist is odd to me.
> Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages and qualities of interest to consumers.
Nobody ever said that advertising must involve a third party.
I feel like advertisements are on a spectrum, and that (let's call them) "first party" advertisements are not what come to people's minds, when they read a title like "Instagram is using my face on ads targeted at me". I'd like to prove this point by the following image search: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ftsa&q=instagram+ads&iax=images&ia... . The top results all relate to advertise something on Instagram that is not Meta-related - so, third party ads.
Lol, literally calling an ad by meta not an ad. If they do it for Meta, the next logical step. This is from the same company that wanted to create official bots that would post, comment, react.
Meta at this point is just throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks as a product. I am not afraid of my data being stolen, but it is a wake up call for what to expect.
>Meta at this point is just throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks
I feel the very same from the OP reddit submission. OP used Meta AI, and then Meta AI used it for more Meta AI. I'm sorry but this is a far cry from "Instagram is using my face on ads targeted at me". The implications of this title, and the situation it describes differ greatly. For example, if the user used Meta AI, and then got an ad of themselves driving a car, drinking a coffee, wearing some clothing, and the ad would be about that product itself, then I would have not made the original comment at all.
You're fighting way harder on this than I would, but I do agree that the title had me imagining being served an ad where I'm using the product being sold to me. Ads already are trying to make you think you'd be happy or popular by using their product by showing you people acting like that. It kicks that up to another level to literally see yourself happy because you're using a product that someone wants to sell you.
> These are not ads, rather something that is generated natively by the platform, not leading anywhere else but the platform that the user is already on
So if Instagram shows you ads about Meta AI, it doesn't count as ads because both are owned by Meta?
Yes, in my mind, just saying "ads" are more for like Nike or Hyundai, than for a service provider upselling its own products. But this point is technically valid, these are advertisements as well. Just not what I, or others, first think of when they read "Instagram is using my face on ads".
They are an Instagram post that is shown to make you buy something, not because anyone you follow posted it. So, it's an ad. The fact that they're using your face in a Meta ad doesn't make it any different from any other ad.
You're probably thinking about this as not a problem from a privacy perspective, and you may be right that this is not technically a privacy issue. But it's still a huge problem from a psychological influence perspective. Ads are already extremely good at manipulating your psyche, adding the ability to show you personally in some wonderful situations that their product would apparently put you in is a whole other level in manipulation.
Plus, if this gets normalized, the next step is absolutely going to be to sell this as a new type of ad to other brands (assuming people end up interacting with such ads more).
Edit to say: thinking about it, I actually think it's a privacy violation even for a Meta ad. Giving them permission to use an image of my face to generate a better selfie doesn't give them permission to use it to serve me ads. The GDPR is pretty specific about this: when you opt into sharing personal data for a specific purpose, that has to be interpreted in a narrow sense, you can't arbitrarily broaden the scope.
I'm with you. If I am at a bar and I see a sign that says "PBR - $3", I don't think of that as an advertisement. This user opted into Meta AI and (perhaps 'unknowingly' as no one reads the terms) gave their consent for this to happen, so I think 'hysteria' is appropriate and it's clear to me that here in the comments, opinions about this are based on feelings and not facts, and for that reason, it has to be described in misleading ways.
I, too, have "used Meta AI", and have not had this happen to me. But I did not use Meta AI to generate pictures of me, so I did not check the box that led to this. That is one of the number of ways the way this post is titled in a way that is misleading. Simply "using Meta AI" in any capacity did not lead to this outcome.
Additionally, the title suggests that the user gave his photos to Meta AI, and then a separate service, Instagram, is using his photos. That's not what is happening, he gave his photos to Meta AI (likely inside Instagram) and then Meta AI is using them (inside Instagram). There's no need to pretend two different services are sharing their photos around, but the post title is more engaging if there's the suggestion otherwise.
When I worked as a waiter, we were supposed to tell the customers about the drink / appetizer specials before taking orders. This dialogue was in fact advertising as those were the high margin offerings at every restaurant.
In any case I think it's more analogous to ads for tv shows while you're trying to watch a tv show. The media you want to consume (news feed) has ads interjected in it, in order to get you to spend more time consuming more content.
Not really. OP was already an Instagram and Meta AI user. So, in the TV analogy, this would be like telling you about an upcoming programme, while you are watching a channel.
I fully agree. There is a lot, a wide spectrum of abuse that Meta can be attacked for, and this little thing is not one of them. I think this is why I feel so personal about this - I do dislike Meta a lot, but I like it when people roast it for the actually valid reasons. I'm sorry for the downvotes, and appreciate your support.
If Instagram shows you an old post with a picture thats got a filter on, or grouped some of your pictures together into a frame, saying "look back on your memories and repost" is that an advert?
When your post comes up in the explore page of another user, is that an advert?
what about those stupid "Here is a post from your friends on threads" with most of the stuff cropped off, as soon as you try and click it, its loads the fucking app store?
Meta have done some terrible shit, but this isn't up there. Its not even a mili-cambridge analyitica. (or a pico-myanmar) its just a shitty app in their shitty social network.
It seems like we are just hipster-hate yak shaving on something pointless, and missing the much wider point that the US needs decent data protections laws, and a functioning legislature.
Your examples are not ads, because they are not trying to convince you to buy anything, or even to give Instagram/Meta any more data about yourself. Advertising a completely separate Meta business (Meta AI is not Instagram) is an entirely different thing.
This ad is also nothing what you describe - the user was already a Meta AI user. From the title: "Used Meta AI, now Instagram is using my face on ads targeted at me". So what happened is that Meta AI did a few extra easy image manipulations, and showed it to its user, on the same platform nonetheless, not even on Facebook or something.
I fully agree. The reddit post is a nothingburger. It feels like it's more about someone wanting to express themselves, or fish for something that might worth good feedback, than someone who actually has something worthwhile to say.
The actual good that this thing has is some feedback for people, to think about whether they want to use these platforms, or not. Being conscious about stuff like these is what I think does good to the world, and the well-being of people.
> These are not ads, rather something that is generated natively by the platform, not leading anywhere else but the platform that the user is already on.
Is this post Advertising a product? Yes, it is advertising a MetaAI product. Just because it's not an external ad, doesn't mean it's not an ad. Hulu shows me adds for other Hulu shows. This is an ad despite me not leaving that streaming site.
What is an advertisement to you?
You are right, that is still and ad. Platform ads are really common for anyone running their own ad exchange. Sometimes its just to use up supply, other times its to meet in house goals.
This is technically true, these are advertisements. But not what first come to mind when reading the title "Instagram is using my face on ads targeted at me", which would be third-party ads, so this is my point. The title is sensational, a play on this misunderstanding, rather than being substantial.
My ick levels are about the same whether it’s used by third parties or just Meta. It’s a mega corporation using my likeness to manipulate my behavior for their own ends.
1 reply →
No one said third-party ads, the description is perfectly accurate to what is happening. The knee jerk reaction to call it sensationalist is odd to me.
well, a properly sensationalized title for your case would be 'Instagram and facebook are giving my pictures away to advertisers for use'.
Still semi-sensational but more direct to your posit.
[flagged]
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising
> Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages and qualities of interest to consumers.
Nobody ever said that advertising must involve a third party.
I feel like advertisements are on a spectrum, and that (let's call them) "first party" advertisements are not what come to people's minds, when they read a title like "Instagram is using my face on ads targeted at me". I'd like to prove this point by the following image search: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ftsa&q=instagram+ads&iax=images&ia... . The top results all relate to advertise something on Instagram that is not Meta-related - so, third party ads.
Lol, literally calling an ad by meta not an ad. If they do it for Meta, the next logical step. This is from the same company that wanted to create official bots that would post, comment, react. Meta at this point is just throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks as a product. I am not afraid of my data being stolen, but it is a wake up call for what to expect.
>Meta at this point is just throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks
I feel the very same from the OP reddit submission. OP used Meta AI, and then Meta AI used it for more Meta AI. I'm sorry but this is a far cry from "Instagram is using my face on ads targeted at me". The implications of this title, and the situation it describes differ greatly. For example, if the user used Meta AI, and then got an ad of themselves driving a car, drinking a coffee, wearing some clothing, and the ad would be about that product itself, then I would have not made the original comment at all.
You're fighting way harder on this than I would, but I do agree that the title had me imagining being served an ad where I'm using the product being sold to me. Ads already are trying to make you think you'd be happy or popular by using their product by showing you people acting like that. It kicks that up to another level to literally see yourself happy because you're using a product that someone wants to sell you.
> These are not ads, rather something that is generated natively by the platform, not leading anywhere else but the platform that the user is already on
So if Instagram shows you ads about Meta AI, it doesn't count as ads because both are owned by Meta?
Yes, in my mind, just saying "ads" are more for like Nike or Hyundai, than for a service provider upselling its own products. But this point is technically valid, these are advertisements as well. Just not what I, or others, first think of when they read "Instagram is using my face on ads".
If you go into a Hyundai dealer and see a big banner about their new financing plan, isn’t that an ad?
If the Nike catalog includes a full page promo for nike.com, isn’t that an ad?
9 replies →
This is just rationalization, everything the post said is 100% correct and the users are unhappy about it justifiably.
They are an Instagram post that is shown to make you buy something, not because anyone you follow posted it. So, it's an ad. The fact that they're using your face in a Meta ad doesn't make it any different from any other ad.
You're probably thinking about this as not a problem from a privacy perspective, and you may be right that this is not technically a privacy issue. But it's still a huge problem from a psychological influence perspective. Ads are already extremely good at manipulating your psyche, adding the ability to show you personally in some wonderful situations that their product would apparently put you in is a whole other level in manipulation.
Plus, if this gets normalized, the next step is absolutely going to be to sell this as a new type of ad to other brands (assuming people end up interacting with such ads more).
Edit to say: thinking about it, I actually think it's a privacy violation even for a Meta ad. Giving them permission to use an image of my face to generate a better selfie doesn't give them permission to use it to serve me ads. The GDPR is pretty specific about this: when you opt into sharing personal data for a specific purpose, that has to be interpreted in a narrow sense, you can't arbitrarily broaden the scope.
Imagine the ozempic ads that use your real face on a thinner body.
If you can then use those ozempic images for your own use, then I bet a bunch of people would be quite happy with it.
2 replies →
I'm with you. If I am at a bar and I see a sign that says "PBR - $3", I don't think of that as an advertisement. This user opted into Meta AI and (perhaps 'unknowingly' as no one reads the terms) gave their consent for this to happen, so I think 'hysteria' is appropriate and it's clear to me that here in the comments, opinions about this are based on feelings and not facts, and for that reason, it has to be described in misleading ways.
I, too, have "used Meta AI", and have not had this happen to me. But I did not use Meta AI to generate pictures of me, so I did not check the box that led to this. That is one of the number of ways the way this post is titled in a way that is misleading. Simply "using Meta AI" in any capacity did not lead to this outcome.
Additionally, the title suggests that the user gave his photos to Meta AI, and then a separate service, Instagram, is using his photos. That's not what is happening, he gave his photos to Meta AI (likely inside Instagram) and then Meta AI is using them (inside Instagram). There's no need to pretend two different services are sharing their photos around, but the post title is more engaging if there's the suggestion otherwise.
When I worked as a waiter, we were supposed to tell the customers about the drink / appetizer specials before taking orders. This dialogue was in fact advertising as those were the high margin offerings at every restaurant.
In any case I think it's more analogous to ads for tv shows while you're trying to watch a tv show. The media you want to consume (news feed) has ads interjected in it, in order to get you to spend more time consuming more content.
Not really. OP was already an Instagram and Meta AI user. So, in the TV analogy, this would be like telling you about an upcoming programme, while you are watching a channel.
I fully agree. There is a lot, a wide spectrum of abuse that Meta can be attacked for, and this little thing is not one of them. I think this is why I feel so personal about this - I do dislike Meta a lot, but I like it when people roast it for the actually valid reasons. I'm sorry for the downvotes, and appreciate your support.
If Instagram shows you an old post with a picture thats got a filter on, or grouped some of your pictures together into a frame, saying "look back on your memories and repost" is that an advert?
When your post comes up in the explore page of another user, is that an advert?
what about those stupid "Here is a post from your friends on threads" with most of the stuff cropped off, as soon as you try and click it, its loads the fucking app store?
Meta have done some terrible shit, but this isn't up there. Its not even a mili-cambridge analyitica. (or a pico-myanmar) its just a shitty app in their shitty social network.
It seems like we are just hipster-hate yak shaving on something pointless, and missing the much wider point that the US needs decent data protections laws, and a functioning legislature.
Your examples are not ads, because they are not trying to convince you to buy anything, or even to give Instagram/Meta any more data about yourself. Advertising a completely separate Meta business (Meta AI is not Instagram) is an entirely different thing.
This ad is also nothing what you describe - the user was already a Meta AI user. From the title: "Used Meta AI, now Instagram is using my face on ads targeted at me". So what happened is that Meta AI did a few extra easy image manipulations, and showed it to its user, on the same platform nonetheless, not even on Facebook or something.
2 replies →
> Meta business (Meta AI is not Instagram)
Isn't threads a separate "business"?
I fully agree. The reddit post is a nothingburger. It feels like it's more about someone wanting to express themselves, or fish for something that might worth good feedback, than someone who actually has something worthwhile to say.
The actual good that this thing has is some feedback for people, to think about whether they want to use these platforms, or not. Being conscious about stuff like these is what I think does good to the world, and the well-being of people.