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Reddit is removing ability to opt out of ad personalization based on your activity on the platform (techcrunch.com)
submitted 9 months ago by meiko60@lemmy.sdf.org to c/technology@lemmy.ml
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[-] Blizzard@lemmy.zip 376 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Which is illegal in the EU and about to be illegal in Australia ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[-] Dasnap@lemmy.world 146 points 9 months ago

The company said that it will still have opt-out controls in “select countries” without specifying which ones.

[-] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 86 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Maybe I'll "move to Europe" lol

fires up VPN

Or maybe I'll just stop visiting reddit entirely?

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[-] a4ng3l@lemmy.world 28 points 9 months ago

Opt-out is still illegal in many cases… a lot must be opt-in based. Typically consent must be freely given.

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[-] archchan@lemmy.ml 252 points 9 months ago

Oh nooooo who could have seen this coming... anyway continues using Lemmy

[-] Voyager@psychedelia.ink 130 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Is reddit owned and operated by a malicious entity? I used to be addicted to that platform, but now I can't stand it.

[-] zero_gravitas@aussie.zone 126 points 9 months ago

Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.

I call this enshittification, and it is a seemingly inevitable consequence arising from the combination of the ease of changing how a platform allocates value, combined with the nature of a "two sided market," where a platform sits between buyers and sellers, holding each hostage to the other, raking off an ever-larger share of the value that passes between them.

From https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

[-] datavoid@lemmy.ml 33 points 9 months ago

This is going to be the most quoted literary work of the 21st century

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[-] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 45 points 9 months ago

Is reddit owned by a malicious entity?

Always has been.

astronaut-2 astronaut-1

As with many things under capitalism, the ongoing mandate is that profits must go up, and must go up at a higher rate no matter what, or investors panic and the price drops steeply which can lead to a collapse. Reddit is just another ravenous profit-seeking vehicle of the same kind and is going into the same "line must go up" death spiral.

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[-] saigot@lemmy.ca 20 points 9 months ago

they are preparing for IPO, the most inherently malicious owner there is!

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[-] Gamey@feddit.de 105 points 9 months ago

Uhm, that option was intreduced by sites and ad networks because the GDPR requires it so unless they plan to shut down buisness in the EU it's probably going to fail!

[-] TheSaneWriter@lemmy.thesanewriter.com 56 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The company said that it will still have opt-out controls in “select countries” without specifying which ones.

I'm guessing that's how they plan to get around that. They will leave the toggle enabled for people registered in EU countries, and disable it everywhere else. A fairly risky way to handle it in my opinion.

[-] Gamey@feddit.de 21 points 9 months ago

Well, that's certainly illegal too, the GDPR requires opt-in and while there is room for interpritation (see all the shitty cookie banners) if you enable anything by default it's not going to fly!

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[-] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 85 points 9 months ago

ＥＮＳＨＩＴＴＩＦＩＣＡＴＩＯＮ

[-] authed@lemmy.ml 81 points 9 months ago

I haven't used reddit in months

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[-] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 70 points 9 months ago

They're gonna remove old reddit aren't they?

[-] stonedonkey@lemmy.world 59 points 9 months ago

I'm actually surprised it's still running, but it seems inevitable especially when they aren't milking that sweet sweet af revenue.

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[-] Ktheone@lemmy.world 20 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

They cannot for now, old.reddit still drives a LOT of traffic for them and most of the reddit oldheads from what ive seen just use old reddit to surf the site, so if they're not stupid enough to drive a huge part of their userbase away from their shithole to sites like lemmy and turn into digg 2.0, I don't see old reddit dying for awhile but remember this is spez we're talking about in the end, the self proclaimed Elon fanboi, so I cannot expect any intelligent decision from him.

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[-] Renacles@discuss.tchncs.de 67 points 9 months ago

The speed at which they are destroying Reddit is just impressive. Spez saw Musk taking a shit on Twitter on the daily and became inspired.

[-] agressivelyPassive@feddit.de 22 points 9 months ago

As much as I want to hate Reddit's management, this is not a move that will affect the average user too much. It's really bad from a privacy standpoint, but a huge percentage of people don't care too much about privacy (until it bites them). So this does (unfortunately) make ton of sense from a business standpoint.

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[-] dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 61 points 9 months ago

Solution: only use Reddit for porn.

[-] prole@sh.itjust.works 44 points 9 months ago

Lol same... and I still feel dirty whenever I do it. Not because it's porn, but because it's reddit. Eww.

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[-] Steak@lemmy.ca 61 points 9 months ago

Lol what ads. Old.reddit with Reddit enhancement suite and Ublock Origin. That's the only way I ever browse Reddit anymore. I have never seen an ad on Reddit. If they ever get rid of old Reddit I'll never go back there. As it is my Reddit usage has decreased by 95% since using Lemmy and never browsing Reddit any other place than my pc.

[-] Jupy@linux.community 27 points 9 months ago

Problem is not just the ads they serve you, but also that they sell this data...

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[-] Anonymousllama@lemmy.world 56 points 9 months ago

Who didn't see this coming? Kill all good third party apps and funnel everyone into their dogshit, undercooked app and then leverage every metric and interaction for advertising

[-] DeadNinja@lemmy.world 55 points 9 months ago

This is how my love for uBlock Origin grows day by day...

[-] IanM32@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 9 months ago

I don't know how anyone lives without it.

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[-] dannym@lemmy.escapebigtech.info 54 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

If we're serious about transforming the conversation around this issue, we've got to be more intentional with the words we choose. Let's call a spade a spade: labeling them as "personalized ads" is a gross understatement.

It's more than that. It's like someone constantly lurking behind you, watching every move you make, and getting into the private spaces of your mind. It isn't mere content tailoring—it's relentless stalking and a brazen assault on our psyche.

We need to call it what it is.

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[-] Rubezahl@lemmy.world 53 points 9 months ago

GDPR violation.

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[-] DatBoi73@lemmy.blahaj.zone 48 points 9 months ago

Isn't that illegal under GDPR or something?

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[-] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 46 points 9 months ago

[-] victron@programming.dev 25 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I thought spez was gonna calm down with his bs, but it seems he can't stop dragging himself through the shit.

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[-] library_napper@monyet.cc 43 points 9 months ago

So they're preparing to get sued tens of millions of dollors by the EU in March of next year?

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[-] Sinnerman@kbin.social 40 points 9 months ago

Now's a good time to advertise the fediverse, if you're still on reddit. Just pick your favorite instance, and tell people to check it out and to click "login/register" if they like it.

[-] CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works 38 points 9 months ago

I urge everyone to install Adnauseum. You know what's better than trying to starve advertisers of info? Filling their ad profile for you with total garbage.

[-] WUED@lemmy.world 35 points 9 months ago

Glad I'm reading this on Lemmy. Well, "glad" isn't the right word, but you know....

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[-] doctorn@r.nf 34 points 9 months ago

It's just now called "Delete Profile". 😅

[-] fdbryant3@lemmy.world 27 points 9 months ago

That is alright I opted out of ads by installing uBlock Origin.

[-] eek2121@lemmy.world 27 points 9 months ago

Okay. I stopped using reddit (and cancelled my premium membership) when Apollo stopped working, so hope it works out for them.

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[-] hotchocolateman6969@lemmy.world 22 points 9 months ago

Honestly never been so happy to move off Reddit, every other week I’m hearing Reddit just shoot itself in the foot and then double down even harder to lose users

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[-] 2Xtreme21@lemmy.world 22 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I’m really glad I’ve stopped actively using Reddit. The day Apollo shut down was my last day on the platform. Sure if a search result leads to a Reddit post I’ll still go, but long gone are the days of mindless scrolling through r/all. Probably has significantly improved my mental health too.

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[-] original_reader@lemm.ee 21 points 9 months ago

based on your activity on the platform

Which activity?

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[-] Cryan24@lemmy.world 20 points 9 months ago

Glad I jumped off that train..

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this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
1758 points (98.3% liked)

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