Slashdot Mirror
The Facebook Ads Teens Aren't Supposed To See
schwit1 writes in with this story about Facbook's questionable ads including webcam modeling and diet drugs. "Sophie Bean, 14, of Sequim, Wash., said she was thought she was 'liking' a Facebook ad related to fashion modeling. Instead, it promoted a Facebook page that recruited adult webcam models. 'I just thought it was for modeling, and I'm interested in that, and I thought it would help me out,' Sophie said. Sophie wasn't the only teen connecting with the page, which Facebook statistics show is most popular with users 13 to 17. Clicking on it didn't pull the teens into nude webcam modeling, but did mean they would receive the page's updates and could be mentioned in future versions of the ad."
Stupid American brat clicks on Facebook ad she doesn't like. The world is shocked.
Clearly important for the new slashdot "pro beta" crowd!
Adblock to the rescue! (And fuck Facebook. Hope they go bankrupt.)
This clearly demonstrates that "you" are the product!
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
said she was thought she was 'liking' a Facebook ad related to fashion modeling.
Wow... I understand she's only 14 and all, but we really need to start making sure kids understand how the internet works, and that every single thing they do is data-mined and used to monitize them... and not for their benefit! That they should NEVER "like" a facebook ad, and even better, should only be online using adblock.
It's scary that someone who's 14 is unaware of how to protect themselves online, and it's scary that we're not as a society teaching them this, just like we teach them reading, writing, math, history, civil rights, and balancing a budget. Knowing how to protect yourself in the digital world is now just as important as knowing how to protect yourself in the real world.
Typically, porn-related ads are a sign of a desperate website.
This clearly demonstrates that "you" are the product!
Yes, yes, yes... We know this already. So much so, in fact it's now an official Slashdot meme.
But of course we are intelligent educated adults with good sense, so we understand this and know how to avoid being sucked in, right?
The case in point demonstrates at least (but probably more) two things: One, children (the story is about a 13 year old) are not generally as "worldly wise" as us intelligent educated adults with good sense, and that Facebook is facilitating a commercial activity that potentially exploits vulnerable people, some of whom are minors.
Shocking? Perhaps, but this is just one that slipped through to be discovered. Of course we are the product, and being the product, it goes without saying that we will be exploited while using Facebook. Or *any* "social media" including Slashdot
This just shows how low things have sunk, something that should have been expected.
There's nothing wrong with "erotica" and indeed there are many who think that there is nothing wrong with children discovering "erotica", but there are limitations, exploiting vulnerable woman (and men) is questionable, and a promotional system that allows for the exploitation of children is certainly well "across the line".
Facebook is a big machine, perhaps they were not aware of this "problem" customer. They should at least be afforded the opportunity to take care of this and perhaps close the hole.
But yes, I think we already know that we are Facebook's "product".
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
This is the worst thing since newspaper classified ads recruited women for phone sex.
Remember newspaper classified ads? They were like Craigslist, except you had to buy the newspaper to see them.
"Even for Slashdot, that was a very obscure reference!" - Anonymous Coward
Wait... there are still people under the age of 35 on facebook?
It is for adults that act like kids.
FTFY
I mean - I get it, we should all be aware on line. But it's not the end of the world to "like" a product manufacturer or service provider. It can be a symbiotic relationship - I like your stuff and want to keep abreast of what you're doing so I "like" your page and get updates. That might be the release of a new octocopter, or a new show opening at Disney World, or casting dates for an indie film, or a coupon for a new makeup product.
This sounds more like false advertising from a sleazy online porn shop. So, yes, we should all be aware; but we shouldn't be paranoid.And, yes, I think Facebook has a role/responsibility in vetting their advertisers and leveraging their data for appropriate marketing targets.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
This is awful! I'm shocked! SHOCKED, I tell you! I'm going to write to my congressman and tell him... Tell him... Um...
Wait, what exactly am I supposed to be outraged about here?
Chelloveck
I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
Upper 1% of hotness? Have you actually looked at models? It's 'uniqueness'. There's still a requirement for symmetry, but not for beauty.
Tyra banks? Huge forehead. Mills jovovich? Kind of cute but also slightly androgynous. Most other models have wide set eyes and weird chins. They are in essence, outliers of hotness...also known as being kind of ugly.
You know what's scientifically proven to be hot? Average-ness. If you're symmetrical and your facial features approximate an average of all human phenotypes, you're hot.
Again, if you want to be a model...you just need to look weirder than most people.
Upper 1% of hotness? Have you actually looked at models? ... They are in essence, outliers of hotness...also known as being kind of ugly.
Again, if you want to be a model...you just need to look weirder than most people.
You know you're gay, right?
They tried to get her to pose nude, and she lives in "see quim"?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I'm not sure people from most other countries understand the "think of the CHIIIIILDREN!" hysteria that grips the Anglophone world on a regular basis. We seem to have developed this bizarre idea that people are supposed to be completely sheltered from the world until they reach the age of legal adulthood ... at which point they're supposed to know in every particular how to deal with the responsibility that entails.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
I need it. For research purposes.
Full-voting member of the Slapaho tribe?
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
That made me laugh. Then I realised what site I was on.
Well my 14 year old niece thinks she knows everything.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
First off it's like 0.0001% of girls. Second off models have a half life of 19mo. Third what go said about uniqueness is true, but if you watch Top Model and other shows you see the most defining trait is being rail thin. If you're super skinny and not deformed and can do the pout face (blue steel!) then they can paint you with makeup and light you well and shoot with pro cameras and pro photographers, and you will look like a model.
I'm sure he thinks the SI swimsuit and Victoria's Secret models are exceptions. I'd think so anyway. I know a lot of the fashion runway models are a little strange looking.
Best comment I've seen in a while, too bad you posted AC.
...after a few hours of retouching in Photoshop...
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
aren't teenager the main target for such products?
In case you're wondering "Sequim" is pronounced "skwim" excatly like "swim" with a "K" after the "S".
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
I usually run adblock+ on my browsers so I don't see that many ads, and because of that, I not clicked on any ads.
But at one time I did log in to Facebook using a computer that did not have adblock+ installed and the ads were the type I really did not expect even Facebook to allow. It was really just porn ads disguised as someone sending me a personal message or whatever.
When they have no problems going that low, I feel even better about using adblock+.
For other reasons, I have not logged in to Facebook for 1/2 a year now and I have disabled my account so I don't know if this crap is still going on.
Isn't it based on old traditions and superstition about 14 year olds and sexuality?
Because by the time she's about that age, she's taken nude pictures of herself however many times, and has lost her virginity. And by age 16 or 18 she's going to perform her first sex act, strip, or webcam scene for money. What is the deal with introducing this information to her at 14, exactly, and why should she not be able to handle it on her own (to dismiss or accept it, for her own individual purposes)?..
They are actively encouraged by expensive marketing to expose themselves online. Adults are not resisting it so why expect the kids to have more guts and resist?
If you weren't an idiot at least once when you were 14 then you are not human.
Just to add to this. the Definition of "Skinny" changes with the times a little, but all models are also above average tall.