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A comment on Facebook sues analytics firm Rankwave over data misuse. Parent comment

Re:Facebook sues analytics firm Rankwave over data misuse by kristianc on Monday May 13, 2019 @08:45AM (#19898685)
> If we banned all advertising tomorrow, consumers would still get about the same outcomes, especially now that the Internet makes it easy to find products and product information.

And if there's anything which recent history has shown conclusively beyond doubt, it's that people can be relied upon to give each other reliable and accurate information about people and products. Especially online.

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

[2] https://www.vox.com/2018/7/19/17594156/whatsapp-limit-forwar...

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5489284/

[4] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/16/amazon-flooded-with-thousand...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Facebook sues analytics firm Rankwave over data misuse by wpietri on Monday May 13, 2019 @10:07AM (#19899365)
Your apparent theory that online information only spreads through word of mouth is especially weird given that you prove it by linking to resources of known quality from media, academic, and non-profit sources.

That's surely what would happen if we banned advertising. One can already get plenty of great product information without advertising, and from the same kinds of sources you link.

[ Parent | on HN ]