Using Boost for Lemmy, I got an obvious political ad from the right asking to sign a petition to scrap the gun "ban" in Canada (it's a registry not a ban).
Now I understand this is an ad but I don't appreciate having propaganda from the right injected into my browsing on lemmy. Have better ads, or let us report them.
Press the icon on the top right and select report ad or block ad
If we're talking about the little white block with a play icon on the top right, it does nothing.
EDIT: Well, I tried a few more times and you have to be very precise, the area where you can tap is very small, buy I ended up being able to report it. Thanks.
Yes, that icon. It is a bit difficult to press, due to the small size. I don't think I can make it bigger since it is rendered by Google that way.
Thanks for responding to this.
What's crazy is that a lot of times these ads don't even lead to real petitions. They lead to email capture forms which then opt the submitter into email advertising and grifting campaigns. That type of scam was very popular on Facebook just a couple of years ago. Facebook cracked down on it a little, but there are still plenty of examples in the wild.
Boost uses Googles ad thingy so you'll have to go through the Google routes. Boost just displays them
if i recall correctly, the app developer can also block specific adverts too though (or at least some categories)
Yeah but idiot me never had to report a Google ad before. I did try to tap the white play button in the right corner before making a post, but it didn't seem to do anything so I asked here prematurely.
I did some digging on these also show its an American group paying for it. I've reported the group to google a few times for other complete lies.
there's some instructions in there on how to remove all information that adsense has on you and your browsing history. After doing that i was flooded with ads for dating sites that had porn videos playing over them at a light transparency. Others have been less subtle. Reporting it at best well make it so you stop seeing the ad after a few months but everyone else still does.
I'll just pop back over to an open source solution.
"American" group with 99% Kremlin funding, I'd bet my life on it.
Have you considered using Lemmy Connect? I've been very happy with it
Connect is the first app that I used for lemmy. I switched to Boost when I kept upvoting and bookmarking stuff randomly because I was swiping sideways when trying to swipe up or down. I know it can be disabled but I wanted to try something else. Boost looked nice and I like it in general but the ads are pretty noticeable when I let them through (I could block them with adguard). I understand the devs want to earn a bit and simply use Google ads but the quality and quantity is less appealing. I might buy the ad free version of Boost but I don't like to feel pushed to do that because ads are awful, so maybe I'll go back to Connect.
1st world problems eh...
Sadly the developer doesn't control what ads are shown, that's entirely up to Google Ad Services and what it thinks you're susceptible to.
That's not entirely true. The publisher can still set some rules around what they want to allow, like no gambling, etc.
How are you okay with ads being injected at all?
OP is using an app to browse the fediverse. Apps are not free to develop and the devs need to eat. I use sync and I'm paying for ultra so I can both support the dev and not have to see ads even though I do block ads system wide
There are much better apps for Lemmy without trackers and tons of permissions.
No idea why that's so scary to you. The only permission that's understandable to be concerned about would be external write perms and that will at worst delete a bunch of your shit, not snoop through any of it. Trackers are also super typical, you'll have a really tough time using your phone while avoiding all of these.
Hell all the OSS apps I use have some sort of crash reporting and way the fuck more permissions than boost does. Dude wants to make money off Boost and I think he deserves it. Most devs do, most OSS folks just accept they'll never make a cent from their labor or rely on donations.
Just pay for Boost. I'm sure you spend more on coffee.
It's not the point. The point is that those 'ads" are spreading misinformation.
If I were an ad company I would make sure to check every detail of every ad, manually , one by one. Why? If something sketchy like scam are advertised, it will obviously ruin the credibility of the ad company
Yet, it seems like every digital ad company seems to not care about doing that. As a result something like this happens. I also sometimes see awful YouTube ads that are straight up a scam.
Credibility? To who? The people who you are attempting to forcefully inject information directly into the brain off? The only people they care about are cutting them checks.
Community of the Android app Boost for Lemmy
