In addition, there seems to be a sentiment that there should be no targeted ads altogether. To be honest I’m not sure how this looks in practice. I think it’s pretty obvious that no targeted ads mean fewer sales and therefore less revenue. Google has margins that could be dug into, fine. However this revenue is also shared by the open web that’s funded by ads. It’s also shared by small businesses that advertise. Generally those two groups have less margin to spare. How does the open web look like in this kind of status quo? How about local economies where the actual businesses who advertise operate? Ads on the web aren’t some small thing that is kind of up in the air, separate from “the real economy” anymore. 🤔

Besides all of that, targeted ads help people find stuff. Web ads used to be terribly useless in the 2000s. Over time they actually got pretty useful for me. Over the years I’ve found many products that I had no clue about as well as promos via well targeted ads. I don’t enjoy ads, but some of the things I use and love came from them. I definitely don’t want to go back to the useless ad shit show landscape of the earlier internet.