Why aren't advertisers (Microsoft, Facebook, Google) held responsible for allowing scammy adverts?

I Cast Fist@programming.dev to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 494 points –

I know they allow scam adverts because it's easy money, but why aren't they held responsible for facilitating obvious scams? You open Edge, there's 3 "Earn money quick" adverts. On Instagram, every 5 ads, one is a scam.

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Because to the tech industry, stuff like "basic accountability", "selling things people actually want", and "developing without limitless free capital" are all considered hate crimes.

Nah, the problem OP poses was also a major issue with TV ads, specially the kind of ads with that whole telemarketing, "buy now get 2 free, but wait there's more, we'll throw in these accessories all for" vibe. And radio, and magazines. A lot of snake oil and re-branded stuff was sold through it.

The real reason why accountability isn't given to the platforms is because then the platforms would be less sustainable. And for the older media, that might have been fine still. But not so much the internet, which arguably, barely sustains itself on a gigantic ad-based bubble. It would be a death-throw for 99% of what we build and consume online. We just simply depend on ads THAT much.

I say they should try anyways. Absolutely. I do think the internet could benefit from having a lot more, smaller website, like before. We're even popularizing the concept of interoperability again, like, man, we're posting on Lemmy, a platform made to spread platforms. I think we're closers to kill the ad dependency now than we ever been after the death of usenet.

I really want to set up my own message board, not necessarily a Lemmy instance - something simpler. Just to start dipping my toes in that world. Is there anything you would recommend as the “easiest” path to hosting my own little forum?

Easiest? I'd say WordPress on a Digital Ocean droplet if you're going super small. Allow people to sign up and vet them, and you have a functional standalone platform pretty much as soon as you can get users. I don't know that it would take off or have a sustainable userbase though

It’s mostly for my own education and a couple of friends if they want to play around on it. It’s not meant to be some big project. I didn’t know WP could handle that I’ll check it out!

Well, I'll admit it might be poorly suited, but I know it supports comments, posts, and user signups. Users would sign up with a sbscriber role, you'd verify them somehow, and then you'd update their role. It would be a little janky but should work with little adjustment

Sounds perfect. My ideal situation is I start with the most bare-bones, easiest to do version. Then as I learn what I really want, find other things that allow what I want to do, and slowly teach myself. It’s basically how I’ve learned to do anything lol

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