Can Google and Facebook Push Adultery Sites Off the Internet?

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/02/can-google-and-facebook-prevent-you-from-cheating-on-your-spouse/71634/

by gatsby • 15 years ago

24 17 15 years ago

theatlantic.com

praptak• 15 years ago

Porn sites shouldn't have any qualms about advertising this guy.

jarin4• 15 years ago

Speaking from experience, porn sites send the worst traffic imaginable (just a bunch of horny guys who don't convert). Then again, every site on his network seems to target a fetish of some kind.

I don't think we'll run into any problems advertising SetForMarriage.com (since it serves basically the exact opposite market as Ashley Madison), but it is a little concerning that Google/Bing/Facebook might start to crack down on the dating industry as a whole.

Granted, a lot of sites deserve it due to their ultra-shady business tactics, but we're trying to at least try to build a legit dating site that actually cares about its customers. For example, we try to answer all support emails within an hour, we try our best to block and delete fake profiles (most dating sites don't), we let non-premium users reply to messages (we got inspired by the deleted OK Cupid post about it), and users can cancel their own subscriptions via a big red button.

jrockway• 15 years ago

Interesting. How successful are you in blocking fake profiles? How do you even measure success?

notahacker2• 15 years ago

This article is bullshit. Top result for a search for Google is an Adword for his site, followed by a natural search result for his site, followed predictably by Wikipedia and some affiliate sites dedicated to promoting his site.

jarin4• 15 years ago

The AdWords result seems to be an affiliate link (note the redirects before you hit the site). It's likely that Google just restricted his AdWords account and not the "ashley madison" keywords themselves.

notahacker2• 15 years ago

This may be true, but I think it's a bit rich to accuse Google and Bing of "censorship" when they undoubtedly send him huge volumes of traffic in natural search results whilst (perhaps) opting not to take his money.

That's also assuming they're not taking his money based purely on his website's reputation, which I find doubtful given his obvious flair for generating [relatively] cheap PR by getting SuperBowl ads banned.

Unseelie• 15 years ago

The complaint is that his buzzwords are not getting published. Google Adultery, the addwords add is for a competitor...just the issue he's complaining of.

jamn• 15 years ago

Another question is to what extent AshleyMadison needs to rely on traditional advertisement versus, say, word of mouth.

I don't particularly remember ever seeing an ad for Facebook, Google until recently, or OKCupid. Yet it seemed to matter little as those sites grew.

jtbigwoo• 15 years ago

The difference, of course, is that people these days are quick to say how much they use Facebook or OKCupid, but very few people are willing to talk with their friends about their extramarital affairs.

gChinkin• 15 years ago

It is interesting to see that his wife is defending him... Is she being supportive or is it just about the money?

paolomaffei• 15 years ago

We thought, 'Let's just do one of these ads that we know will get rejected,'" he says. They shot the whole commercial in 25 minutes. When CBS refused it, Biderman's company posted it all over YouTube and the Web, tagging it as the "banned Super Bowl commercial."

Kudos to you, Mr Biderman

blues• 15 years ago

Ha! Hell no! Never as long as I'm here!

mikey_p• 15 years ago

After reading the section on Facebook blocking him, I though "Well duh, he's a direct competitor of Facebook!!"

In all seriousness I don't know how many affairs originate through each site, but with Facebook's volume, even a low percentage could eclipse Ashley Madison. To be honest, I can't imagine MySpace, or any other social network being allowed to advertise on Facebook either.

contactdick• 15 years ago

It's an interesting method he's developed to generate buzz for his company. Piggy backing big media draw-cards such as Facebook, Superbowl and Google claiming they are banning adds to try and prevent him operating generates a lot more free media attention than the adds themselves would have. I had no idea adultery sites even existed until now.

I'm not married but would have thought standard operating procedure would be to go to a singles website and just not tick married?

Can Google and Facebook Push Adultery Sites Off the Internet?

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