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Comment by parasti | Hacker News Reader

I am in the EU. I opted out of targeted ads a while back when the Facebook app asked me about it and it is now showing me inline ads with a timer. I literally have to wait before I can continue doomscrolling which is just enough time to just put the phone down and go back to work. Thank you, Meta.

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I'm also in the EU and I am mildly confused.

Some months ago (years?) I was shown a popup asking me to either agree to be tracked or to pay a monthly fee [1]. I chose neither and haven't logged in since.

I logged in just now and everything seems to be working fine. But then I went to the "Ad preferences" and I'm shown a message saying I have to choose between using Facebook for free with ads or subscribe, and that my information won't be used for ads until I make a choice.

Looks like my account is stuck in some weird middle ground where my data can't used for ads but I also don't have to pay. Did I get away with neither? Or will they ask me to pay next time I log in, two years from now?

[1] https://www.voanews.com/a/meta-risks-fines-over-pay-for-priv...

There's indeed a middle ground now, as far as I can tell. It's called "show less personalized ads" or something like that, but in effect I think it's showing ads related just to the page you're currently looking at. I'm perfectly fine with this model, and I'd rather we collectively go back to it, instead of ad trackers following you around on the Internet and serving you ads based on your browser history instead.

Of course that doesn't mean I trust Meta/Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp, but at least on the surface it seems they understood the assignment.

Same, I love it because it will stop me from mindlessly scrolling. My only complaint is that if I actually wait, the next ad doesn't come soon enough.

That's one way to break the doomscrolling habit! Meta unintentionally doing you a favor. Maybe they should market it as a -productivity feature- instead of an ad strategy

Instagram helps us in the same way, yay for breaking bad habits - with (against?) the help of technology giants!

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