Comment by maronato

We don’t have to do it all at once. Focus on what ad platforms like Google’s offers. Ad banners, ads on videos, etc.

Start by banning target advertisements - now ad platforms can’t use information about the user to decide which ad to show.

Next, ban forced advertisement - people cannot be forced to watch 10 seconds of an ad, or to have the ad be persistent on a page. All ads can be easily dismissed.

Then, force ad platforms to respect a user setting that says they don’t want to see ads. Just a new browser standard that communicates the user preference, or a toggle that can be changed in apps.

That alone should get rid of most problematic ads, but we’d still have sponsors and affiliate links. For those, we can start by increasing the requirements for disclaimers or identification. e.g. sponsored content has to be strictly separated from non-sponsored content. Get rid of “segways” and affiliate links close to the actual content.

If advertisers find loopholes or ways around these measures, we just close the holes with new regulation.