I think this is an example of Tu Quoque[1] logical fallacy.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque

If the parent had made the claim that it wasn't wrong at all because BF does it, then this would be relevant.

However the parent's claim is subtly different: it states that the industry practice of data collection is not unusual, not that it's not wrong.

Are you just making an observation or do you think that disqualifies the parent's point somehow? If so, your comment is probably an example of the argument from fallacy fallacy. [0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_fallacy

> Absolutely it does.

How do you figure? It seems to me that even if the news organization does everything Facebook/Google/etc. does, that doesn't make Facebook/Google/etc. less bad. It only makes the news organization equally bad.

One of the concerns people raise is that Facebook, Google, etc. are lowering the bar. That they're uniquely bad at privacy, or uniquely brazen about violating it, and user privacy is becoming harder to achieve because of their actions.

If everyone else also violates privacy in the same ways, this aspect of the narrative isn't true.

"Less bad" and "equally bad" are incompatible statements, you're claiming both are true

‘Less bad’ here compares one valuation of Facebook's actions to a previous one, whereas ‘equally bad’ compares Facebook's actions to those of Buzzfeed. So they can be both true (regardless of whether they actually are).

By "less bad", I thought the comment was saying that Google/etc. actions are less objectionable. That's what I don't think is true. If I have misunderstood, then I apologize.

Indeed. The minimum they can do is properly disclose their own position in this, because it makes them appear very hypocritical.

The even sadder part about this article... Buzzfeed does this worse. So it's not only the "pot calling the kettle black", it's someone calling someone out on things they do better than themselves.

Reality is, that both Google and Facebook have cleaned up the AD industry ( but not enough, of course ).

Data brokers continue to be the worst actors in the Ad industry.