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Comment by Liquidor | Hacker News Reader

I've got a couple of thoughts.

1) Why do you guys care what ads are being displayed to you?

2) Do you even allow ads to be displayed in the first place (ad blockers etc.) ?

3) Yes, we get it. Uninstall Facebook/IG/WhatsApp..., but no. Most people in the world use these, and you're still targeted without using them.

4) Why just Meta? What about Google, YouTube, Bing and many other ad providers?

5) Is this a political campaign by Warner Bros., EFF or someone else?

6) Shouldn't this stuff just be regulated instead? I'm sure the EU has some regulations at least. What about the US?

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> Yes, we get it. Uninstall Facebook/IG/WhatsApp..., but no. Most people in the world use these, and you're still targeted without using them.

Whenever I go into Facebook itself, I see how poorly they target me.

Boob surgery and dick pills.

Lawyer specialising in giving up a citizenship I never had for those living in a country I left in 2018. Announcements from that country's government that a breed of dog I've never heard of is now banned.

Recommendations to join groups about teams I've never heard of in sports I don't follow in states I've never even visited in a country I've never lived in.

Dick surgery and boob pills?

I mean I have friends who would want both combinations

>Lawyer specialising in giving up a citizenship I never had for those living in a country I left in 2018.

I mean it kind of sounds like they've correctly pegged you for being an expat of that country.

Misunderstanding: The advert is to renounce US citizenship that targets Americans living in the UK. I left the UK in 2018, I've never had American citizenship.

> 3) Yes, we get it. Uninstall Facebook/IG/WhatsApp..., but no. Most people in the world use these, and you're still targeted without using them.

Eat healthy and exercise? No, most people in the world don't, and it doesn't guarantee you'll never fall ill

I have an ad blocker that removes all ads so I indeed don't care what ads are displayed to me. But I do want to minimize what data companies collect about me and will use whatever means necessary to do so.

Why just Meta is a false dichotomy. Privacy-aware users tend to adjust the settings and use privacy-enhancing extensions for all companies.

Yes, I think this should be regulated and companies within the EU need to be forced to respect privacy and other EU laws. The current penalties are too low. Data theft is a serious crime.

The main reason I've done this is to make myself less profitable to Meta. A drop in the bucket, I know, but the more people who do this, the less money Meta makes, which can only be a good thing for the world.

1) I don't particularly care beyond possibly being less targeted for manipulation

5) I wouldn't have thought it was a campaign or effort by Warner Bros, likely just the show itself which seems to have pretty wide editorial freedom (and obviously EFF does have a known position on these matters)

6) Good luck getting timely and well thought-through regulations through the EU / any regulation through the US

5: Probably John Oliver still at it, I used to watch when I still had time to watch videos about a country that's not mine, it was both insightful and funny. I'd bet his program did that (they did set up a church to show how easy it was to evade taxes or something a few years ago)

>Do you even allow ads to be displayed in the first place (ad blockers etc.)

It's extremely difficult to use Facebook in any form on mobile in a way that lets you block ads.

Is it? I've been trivially doing it for a long time. Web browser and an ad blocker just works.

You obviously don't use Messenger.

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