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Meta bans ads for Virginia Woolf play in Spain

67 pointsby 1h agotheguardian.com
27 comments
42m agoHN ↗

Why meta is not fully banned in the EU is beyond me :)

I know banning or forcing meta to obey laws in the US is impossible due to bribes (political contributions), but in the EU I would think meta could at the very least be reined in.

41m agoHN ↗

We just need to start pirate streams of football games and it will be gone within the week.

36m agoHN ↗

I'm not saying it's not bad in the USA (because it is) but if you think there's no corruption or bribing in EU politics then I don't know what to say.

33m agoHN ↗

Although both continents are presently losing themselves to fascism, quantity still has a quality all its own.

14m agoHN ↗

You're on the right track but instead of losing themselves to fascism what you should more accurately be pointing out, in my opinion, is that in general societies are becoming a lot more open to authoritarian ideologies, whether that's communism, fascism, or similar.

34m agoHN ↗

This actually is a result of Meta being forced to obey EU law. Not sure why the article didn't explain things at all, but Regulation (EU) 2024/900 greatly restricts political advertising with typical vagueness, so Meta is enforcing a broad ban to ensure they comply.

21m agoHN ↗

Information like this should be front-and-center. Call it malicious compliance if one wishes, but if there is one thing that is clear, Meta does not do anything (besides try and make money) without being forced to. A blanket ban on anything political does indeed mean a ban on all sides of an issue, even ones many would agree is positive.

17m agoHN ↗

Not sure why the article didn't explain things at all

The answer is right in front of your eyes: theguardian.com

14m agoHN ↗

No, showing ads for feminism or social issues related plays is not illegal in Europe. Nor fined. And it is practically practiced all around the Europe.

This strategy of "we will lie about what the law enforces, so that we can blame the regulator instead of the company" is getting old.

14m agoHN ↗

so Meta is enforcing a broad ban to ensure they comply.

No. Meta enforces a broad ban because they don't want EU to regulate them, so they drag their feet and create the most possible "unwanted collateral damage" so people will get upset at the regulation instead of the company. So, pieces like this from The Guardian are surely needed.

8m agoHN ↗

create the most possible "unwanted collateral damage"

Other examples of this bullshit being cookie consent dialogs and Apple acting like a victim for being forced to open their platform a bit.

11m agoHN ↗

It doesn't ban political advertising, it requires labeling/transparency, and prohibits targeting without consent or based on categories like race or religion.

It also defines political ad narrowly as placed by a political actor or campaign, or intended to influence some part of the political process, like voting, legislation, or regulatory action.

28m agoHN ↗

Why do you think so many big tech companies are registering subsidiaries in Ireland? (Aside form the "Double Irish" mechanism that used to be in vogue more than a decade ago).

Plenty of hands seem to be well greased over there given how long it takes to issue fines for clear&cut violations of EU regulation.

25m agoHN ↗

So, Meta should be banned because it followed EU law to ban some things?

Wow, Europeans do have a penchant for recursively banning things :)

11m agoHN ↗

Neither feminism nor social issues are banned in European advertissements.

9m agoHN ↗

No. Supranational corporations will find any and all ways to be maliciously compliant and blame the EU.

35m agoHN ↗

We don't have to put up with this. We simply choose to. But our laws could be whatever we want them to be.

32m agoHN ↗

Unfortunately, "we" is often those with the monetary means to make their voice heard.

6m agoHN ↗

Well you can also just stop using these products. I don't have or use Facebook, Instagram, Whats App, Reddit (since they removed old.reddit.com unless you have an account), TikTok, Snap, or anything else.

Folks want Facebook or whatever to be regulated into some perfect idea they have in their heads of how it should work and how it should be regulated. Sorry, many people have many views on that, and you're never going to be happy with an outcome. Even this article - Facebook is complying with EU rules/regulations and now you're not happy that your voice isn't heard through your preferred form of political activism. If Facebook allows this content, they break EU laws, or they have to allow some content you disagree with and now you're mad.

I don't know why people, right, left, or sideways keep putting up with this stuff.

3m agoHN ↗

"We" is a massive group of people who all have wildly different ideas. Saying "laws could be what we want them to be" is highly subjective depending on who the "we" is at that current time.

15m agoHN ↗

At this point, I suspect that comments like this one are part of an astroturfing campaign by the ruling class.

It’s the same bullshit as “we could stop climate change if only we bothered to bring cloth bags to the store instead of picking up a disposable plastic bag each time”.

“We” don’t have any power. And once you accept that, you can stop blaming yourself and your neighbors for the world you live in, and direct your anger where it belongs.

12m agoHN ↗

“We” do, we could, if organized. Per your first point, that is the problem today - agreeing on a shared goal rather than infighting about all the peripheral issues.

8m agoHN ↗

What looks like a peripheral issue to you is somebody else's central goal. And vice versa.

10m agoHN ↗

“We” don’t have any power.

<Ned Flanders' father>: We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!

People who say this have never tried, do nothing themselves to contribute to improving the problem or to convince others or the government to improve the problem besides perhaps complaining on the internet in a bubble of likeminded people who don't need their minds changed.

7m agoHN ↗

direct your anger where it belongs.

Where does it belong?

20m agoHN ↗

Sounds like malicious compliance, they should get a fine for that as well.

8m agoHN ↗

Probably got better publicity with this ban then if they actually showed the ads.

My money is that this is manufactured by some PR team.

Possibly the Ad's text was purposely inflammatory (something like "overthrow the patriarchy" or something) so that they can say it was banned.