Until now, purchasing some too-good-to-be-true cheap clothes or a weird smartphone case through a Facebook ad usually ends in disappointment, with no way to provide feedback about your new dress shirt that makes you look like a store brand anime character. While Facebook can’t stop you from buying a t-shirt with a few…
Facebook already has more data on most people than it knows what to do with but the company announced Thursday that it will need a few more vital pieces of personal information from anyone hoping to place political ads on its platform, including a government-issued ID and social security number.
Things have been rocky for Snapchat. After going public in March 2017, Snap Inc. has seen its stock price drop by more than 50 percent in a little more than a year, while taking a $40 million loss on unsold Spectacles and more or less canceling a redesign that had users complaining in protest. So in an attempt to…
If you want to place a political advertisement through Google’s massive advertising network during the upcoming US elections, you’re going to have to show some ID first. The search giant announced new policies Friday that will require advertisers prove they are a US citizen or permanent resident when buying election…
Snapchat, fresh off a redesign that managed to piss off just about the entirety of its user base, is reportedly getting ready to introduce a new feature that no one (except its stockholders) has been asking for: unskippable advertisements.
Pressure has been mounting on Facebook and its leadership to make big privacy changes in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal—in which it lost control over extensive data on what it now says are 87 million users—and after weeks of hedging and minor tweaks around the margins, the company has begun to make other…
The brands are finally ready to take a bold stand against willingly associating themselves with things that lots of people hate.
Amazon’s “Prime Exclusive” phones always seemed like a tantalizing deal, because if you were already a Prime subscriber, you could save $25, $50, $100, or more on handsets from well-known manufacturers like LG and Motorola. But until now, there was always a catch, because those savings came with lock screen ads and…
Did a loved one buy you an Amazon Echo over the holidays? Sorry about that. But now, in addition to well-founded fears about surveillance and security, you’ve got a new problem: ads.
Forty-four years ago this week, Motorola placed the first phone call from a mobile phone. That’s a genuinely big moment, and as someone who is glued to my smartphone for at least 18 hours a day, I’m very glad that happened.
Visual ads like signs, posters, and billboards are easy to ignore—you just need to look away. But what if a poster for a concert started broadcasting music or notifications to your smartphone? Researchers at the University of Washington have found a way to turn print ads into low-power radio stations, making a future…
Rob Lowe, the former pitchman for DirecTV, has a message for the company that he used to promote: You suck!
This new commercial is cute and all, but it a) does not contain nearly enough Looney Tunes b) is sadly lacking in anyone telling us to get up it’s time to slam now, we’ve got a real jam going now.
Facebook has inaccurately reported some of its engagement metrics to publishers, the company admitted Thursday.
In a deeply regrettable attempt to cash in on human tragedy using viral video magic, a company called Miracle Mattress decided to film and post a bizarre commercial promoting its “Twin Tower sale.” Welp!
Facebook knows more about your personal life than you probably realize. As part of the company’s increasingly aggressive advertising operation, Facebook goes to great lengths to track you across the web. The company compiles a list of personal details about every user that includes major life events and general…
Online streaming platforms like YouTube and Hulu have a method to keep viewers interested throughout commercial breaks: countdown clocks. Now, traditional TV broadcasting companies are getting in on the action.
It’s a game of cat and mouse. On Tuesday, Facebook announced it would begin circumventing ad blocking software in an effort to show more ads in the News Feed. The ad-blocking community was pissed and vowed to fix the problem. Two days later, Adblock Plus contributors made good on their promise and released a workaround
Facebook announced today that people will see ads on the desktop version of the social network regardless of whether or not they are using ad blockers.
