I think as a child I got viruses from one of the ads, you know, the ones would put on the side of the site. We had to call in a guy, to clean parents’ computer. I felt really guilty and never touched those ads again.
So Google’s and Meta’s main business are ads. And recently I felt confused. Do people click on ads? Don’t these ads feel phishy to them?
You mean like… oh purpose!?
There was a time long ago I did that to help them with their business. I’ve learned a lot since then and now I don’t do that anymore.
Did you stop because it affects your algorithm, it costs them money, or another reason?
Companies need money to survive. Not every company should survive though.
It is like mosquitos - I bear them no malice, and they are part of the food web too. I still swat them if then bite me. I am also okay with mosquito-cide on a mass scale.
Symbiosis and Mutualism are great, but advertising as it is practiced 99.99999% of the time today is Parasitic, and I don’t want to encourage it any further.