{"id":863,"date":"2021-11-20T05:02:23","date_gmt":"2021-11-20T04:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2021\/11\/20\/google-and-facebooks-ad-empires-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2021-11-20T05:02:23","modified_gmt":"2021-11-20T04:02:23","slug":"google-and-facebooks-ad-empires-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2021\/11\/20\/google-and-facebooks-ad-empires-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Google and Facebook\u2019s Ad Empires &#8211; The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"cfbc967f0983488262956e73eca9483a\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3859091246952232\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- blok -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3859091246952232\" data-ad-slot=\"1334354390\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n\n<\/div>\n<p>Advertisement<br \/>Supported by<br \/>the on tech newsletter<br \/>The tech giants talk a lot about the \u201cmetaverse\u201d and cloud computing. What really powers them is selling us socks.<br \/><strong>Send any friend a story<\/strong><br \/>As a subscriber, you have <strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">10 gift articles<\/strong> to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.<br \/><span class=\"byline-prefix\">By <\/span><span class=\"css-1baulvz last-byline\" itemprop=\"name\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/shira-ovide\" class=\"css-mrorfa e1jsehar0\">Shira Ovide<\/a><\/span><br \/><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. Here is a collection of <\/em><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/column\/on-tech\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">past columns<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">.<\/em><br \/>Google and Facebook love to talk about the cutting-edge stuff that they\u2019re working on. <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/28\/technology\/facebook-rebrand-meta.html\" title=\"\">Metaverse<\/a>! <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/05\/24\/technology\/self-driving-cars-wait.html\" title=\"\">Driverless cars<\/a>! <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/features\/2021-07-26\/google-faces-off-with-amazon-microsoft-to-become-a-cloud-computing-giant\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Cloud<\/a>! <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2018\/02\/01\/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-ai-is-more-important-than-fire-electricity.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Artificial intelligence<\/a>!<br \/>The reality, though, is that these tech companies are rich and powerful because they are the biggest sellers of advertising in the world. They do essentially the same thing that William Randolph Hearst did a century ago: They draw our attention to try to sell us yoga pants. (OK, Hearst\u2019s newspapers probably didn\u2019t have ads for leggings.)<br \/>There\u2019s a vigorous public debate about the benefits and serious trade-offs of the digital worlds that Google and <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/11\/02\/style\/meta-facebook.html\" title=\"\">Facebook<\/a> created. It\u2019s less jazzy to think about digital advertising that these tech titans have popularized. But like everything else about these companies, it\u2019s complicated and important.<br \/>Alphabet, the corporate entity that includes Google, made about 80 percent of <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/ix?doc=\/Archives\/edgar\/data\/0001652044\/000165204421000057\/goog-20210930.htm\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">its revenue<\/a> this year from the ads that we see when searching the web, watching YouTube videos, checking out Google Maps and more. Facebook generated 98 percent of <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/ix?doc=\/Archives\/edgar\/data\/1326801\/000132680121000065\/fb-20210930.htm\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">its revenue<\/a> from ads. (Facebook likely won\u2019t mention this today, when it <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebookconnect.com\/en-us\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">plans to discuss<\/a> the company\u2019s vision of us living, shopping and working in its virtual reality world.)<br \/>It\u2019s not breaking news that Google and <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/29\/technology\/meta-facebook-zuckerberg.html\" title=\"\">Facebook<\/a> are souped-up versions of old-school advertising mediums like newspapers or radio. I am stressing the point for two reasons. First, zeroing in on their essence helps demystify those tech superpowers. Google and <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/29\/technology\/meta-facebook-zuckerberg.html\" title=\"\">Facebook<\/a> seem less mythical and imposing when you know that their empires are built on selling us more socks.<br \/>Second, I want us to think more about the warts-and-all effects of the Google and Facebook advertising powerhouses. The methods of advertising that the companies helped popularize \u2014 highly automated; based on information about who we are, what we do online and <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/07\/21\/technology\/phones-location-data.html\" title=\"\">where we go<\/a>; and at a scale unlike anything before \u2014 has changed the world around us in both good and harmful ways, without most of us really noticing.<br \/>Sure, some of the benefits are easy to see. Google and Facebook offer (arguably) helpful products and services at no cost to us, because advertising pays the bills. Ads also make stuff that we use outside Google and Facebook cheaper. Or possibly more expensive, which I\u2019ll get to in a minute.<br \/>If you type \u201cMiami vacations\u201d into Google, that\u2019s a blaring signal that you might be interested in booking a hotel room. If a hotel can pay an average of $1 per new customer for its website to show up prominently in those Google search results \u2014 versus spending $2 for each customer if it buys a television commercial \u2014 those hotel rooms might be cheaper for us.<br \/>That example is radically oversimplified, but you get the point. Even if you say that you hate ads or never use Facebook, the ads on these sites have beneficial ripple effects.<br \/>But there are also major drawbacks. To sell ads, Google and Facebook normalized the <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/15\/technology\/just-collect-less-data-period.html\" title=\"\">data arms race<\/a> to collect as much information about us as possible, and now the bank, grocery store and weather apps are grubbing every detail they can to sell their own ads. Digital advertising also has a persistent problem with <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/warzel.substack.com\/p\/the-internets-original-sin\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">fraud and over promises<\/a> that essentially impose a tax on everything that we buy.<br \/>The last thing I\u2019ll mention is the perpetual motion machine of bigness. Google and Facebook are the biggest advertising sellers in the world largely because they are the largest gatherings of humans in the world. More people translate into more spots to sell ads.<br \/>That has created ripple effects for entertainment companies, newspapers and internet properties to try to merge or do anything they can to get bigger. I wonder if we would have a healthier economy and internet life if Comcast, TikTok and nearly every other company weren\u2019t trying to amass the biggest audience of humans possible \u2014 partly to compete with Google and Facebook and sell more ads.<br \/><strong>A tech giant in trouble.<!-- --> <\/strong><span>The leak of internal documents by a former Facebook employee has provided <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/04\/technology\/facebook-files.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">an intimate look<\/a>\u00a0at the operations of the secretive social media company and renewed calls for better regulations of the company\u2019s wide reach into the lives of its users.<\/span><br \/><strong>How it began.<!-- --> <\/strong><span>In September, The Wall Street Journal published The Facebook Files, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/17\/business\/dealbook\/facebook-files-whistleblower.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">a series of reports based on leaked documents<\/a>. The series exposed evidence that Facebook, which on Oct. 28 assumed the corporate name of Meta, knew Instagram, one of its products <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/01\/technology\/facebook-instagram-teenagers.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">was worsening body-image issues among teenagers<\/a>.<\/span><br \/><strong>The whistle-blower.<!-- --> <\/strong><span>During an interview with \u201c60 Minutes\u201d that aired Oct. 3, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/03\/technology\/whistle-blower-facebook-frances-haugen.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">Frances Haugen, a Facebook product manager <\/a>who left the company in May, revealed that she was responsible for the leak of those internal documents.<\/span><br \/><strong>Ms. Haugen\u2019s testimony in Congress.<!-- --> <\/strong><span>On Oct. 5, Ms. Haugen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/05\/technology\/what-happened-at-facebook-whistleblower-hearing.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">testified before a Senate subcommittee<\/a>, saying that Facebook was willing to use hateful and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/05\/technology\/haugen-facebook.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">harmful content<\/a>\u00a0on its site to keep users coming back. Facebook executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, called her accusations untrue.<\/span><br \/><strong>The Facebook Papers.<!-- --> <\/strong><span>Ms. Haugen also filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided the documents to Congress in redacted form. A congressional staff member then supplied the documents, known as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/25\/business\/facebook-papers-takeaways.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">Facebook Papers<\/a>, to several news organizations, including The New York Times.<\/span><br \/><strong>New revelations.<!-- --> <\/strong><span>Documents from the Facebook Papers show the degree to which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/22\/technology\/facebook-election-misinformation.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">Facebook knew of extremist groups on its site<\/a>\u00a0trying to polarize American voters before the election. They also reveal that internal researchers had repeatedly determined how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/25\/technology\/facebook-like-share-buttons.html?action=click&#038;action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc&#038;module=RelatedLinks&#038;pgtype=Article\">Facebook\u2019s key features<\/a>\u00a0amplified toxic content on the platform.<\/span><br \/>Tip of the Week<br \/><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/brian-x-chen\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">Brian X. Chen<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">, the consumer technology columnist for The New York Times, is back with fresh advice on digital record keeping for Covid-19 vaccinations.<\/em><br \/>A few months ago, I shared a tip about how to <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/08\/19\/technology\/small-business-online-sales.html\" title=\"\">securely store your digital vaccine card on your phone<\/a>. As of this week, iPhone users now have a much simpler way to store their vaccine cards by adding the document to Apple\u2019s Wallet app, its software that holds credit cards and important documents like travel itineraries.<br \/>Here\u2019s how to set it up:<br \/>Download and install the latest software update for iOS (version 15.1). To do that, open the Settings app, tap General and then tap Software Update.<br \/>Now retrieve your digital vaccine card from your health department. These steps vary by state. California residents can visit the <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">vaccine record website for the California Department of Public Health<\/a> to request a copy of their digital vaccine card.<br \/>Once you receive the vaccine card, tap and hold down on the QR code \u2014 a digital bar code that looks like a bunch of black-and-white squares \u2014 to open a menu. Then select \u201cOpen in Health.\u201d<br \/>Here, select \u201cAdd to Wallet &amp; Health.\u201d Now you can access your vaccine card by opening the Wallet app.<br \/><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Never delete anything, I guess? <\/strong>Facebook told employees to <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/27\/technology\/facebook-legal-communications.html\" title=\"\">preserve a wide range of internal documents and communications<\/a> dating back to 2016, my colleagues Ryan Mac and Mike Isaac report. The company said that it did this in response to government inquiries stemming from the internal materials disseminated by Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager.<br \/><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">What a reality show teaches us about fame in the internet age: <\/strong>My colleague Amanda Hess has a thoughtful <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/27\/magazine\/social-media-mental-health.html\" title=\"\">essay<\/a> about a Hulu series featuring the TikTok-famous D\u2019Amelio family, and the ways that social media is presented as a solution to mental health struggles.<br \/><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">What happens when people use coin-size Bluetooth tracking devices such as Apple\u2019s AirTag to track their stolen cars or scooters? <\/strong>A Washington Post writer found out, including by <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sBCEDPg6cO?amp=1\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">following the theft of her 1999 Honda Civic<\/a>. (<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">A subscription may be required.)<\/em><br \/>Does Swiss chard go with my wedding dress? A <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.berkeleyside.org\/2021\/10\/26\/berkeley-bowl-engagement-photos\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">couple took their engagement photos at Berkeley Bowl<\/a>, a grocery store in the Bay Area with rabid fans. (Our friends at the California Today newsletter <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/27\/us\/ca-snake-capital-suburbs.html\" title=\"\">wrote<\/a> about this, too.)<br \/><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else you\u2019d like us to explore. You can reach us at <\/em><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"mailto:ontech@nytimes.com?subject=On%20Tech%20Feedback\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">ontech@nytimes.com.<\/em><\/a><br \/><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">If you don\u2019t already get this newsletter in your inbox, <\/em><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/newsletters\/signup\/OT\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">please sign up here<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">. You can also read <\/em><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/column\/on-tech\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">past On Tech columns<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">.<\/em><br \/>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/28\/technology\/google-facebook-advertising.html\">source<\/a><\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AdvertisementSupported bythe on tech newsletterThe tech giants talk a lot about the \u201cmetaverse\u201d and cloud computing. What really powers them is selling us socks.Send any friend a storyAs a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.By Shira OvideThis article is part of the On Tech newsletter. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow1sXXCw:productID":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}