exadsthrowaway

I'm sure someone's emailed about it, but the button says 'comfirm' instead of 'confirm' for (at least) the sms and mms options.

That's certainly one of the ways to rationalize it - scaling out the infra was actually pretty fun.

Legal stuff and the 'monetization' rationality are pretty spot on with my experience. There were even a few puff pieces from local tech outlets that had no idea they were a malware company.

Another ex-adware person here:

Building software nobody wants is pretty soul-crushing (I've since left the ad industry altogether), and I haven't heard a case of anyone actually wanting my previous employer's software.

Of course there's rationalizations ("That's just the way the internet works", "If we don't do it someone else will", and the insane "They agreed to the terms"), but I don't think anyone has the mental capacity to convince themselves people actually want malware.

People making adware generally aren't openly malevolent, but there seems to be the consensus that 'users' who install the software are idiots (sometimes with the implication that this makes it okay to scam them).

That said, it's still lucrative (and with very low risk of any repercussions), so most of the industry just wants money and doesn't really care.