Tell HN: Google use private message to target YouTube ads

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43034232

by dekervin • 1 year ago

1 1 1 year ago

news.ycombinator.com

I don't know if it's public knowledge ad if it is if it was discussed publicly.

But I just had an anecdote, and I am positive that google use info gleaned from private message to target an ad on youtube.

Festro• 1 year ago

Apparently, they don't actually do this. However, they do do the next best thing:

1) You talk to a friend, in-person or by message, about [topic]

2) You go about your business

3) Your friend Googles [topic]

4) Google associates [topic] with your friend's ad ID, as well as the ad IDs of anyone they've been near in the past 24 hours (you)

5) You and your friend see ads about [topic]

I don't know how smart they are about it, but it's likely working on the same system that runs their location services "Your reviews/photos are being read on Google, answer questions about [place you recently visited]?", and Google Rewards which tracks your location to ask you about receipt data and other things. It's very good at knowing if you've been into a lcoation and spent time there.

So, if they know a group of people were at a location for a period of time together, and those people have done so before, they can show ads based on one group member's search history to all of them.

No creepy message reading, or sneaky microphone recording, just regular creepy location tracking.

Tell HN: Google use private message to target YouTube ads

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