Comment by vanuatu

4 months ago

not to defend zuck but its a common misconception that meta sells data

advertisers dont see the personal data they buy for ad placement

There is no misconception. Meta also sells data, next to selling advertising space.

its not a misconception. As an advertiser, I can go use meta's tools, target people specifically, and show them ads on meta's platform. While i don't get the CSV dump, but if i can target people with my message, its the same thing. Meta keeps the data AND the distribution. Data brokers have the data but no distribution of attention for that data. Newspapers have distribution but don't have the granualar data for direct targeting.

There are many, many use cases of having a CSV dump of the data, but in reality, all of it boils down to either reselling the data, or marketing a product to the demographic in the data.

The 3rd use case is that of palantir but let's not get distracted.

So, meta is not selling data is like saying netflix is not selling movies (its actually buying them). Technically true, but a shallow understanding.

  • i dont think targeted ads are necessarily bad, and definitely not has bad as the data freely shared vs. behind meta's walls

    and what is this 3rd use case?

Why should anyone at all care about this distinction?

  • i care that my data isnt being sold

    i dont really care that i get targeted ads, in fact i prefer targeted ads vs. ones that are of no use to me

    • Really do you care that your daughters are being advertised beauty products at the exact moment that they delete a photo because it's likely that they're feeling low self esteem at that moment? Because that's a service that you used to be able to buy from Meta.

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