While it is heartening that an ad tech guy is coming out critical of the damage ads and ad tech are doing to the web, what he won't say but nonetheless implies is far more important: The free market isn't working in this context. Its invisible hand has been handcuffed.
He says users are the real customers and their interests are not being served. Of course not! The invisible hand works because buyers directly pay for the things they choose to use. They vote with their wallets. But when things appear to be free and the true cost are hidden and indirect[1], the voting becomes rigged. When there is a intermediary (advertising) that distributes consumer dollars to publishers, that intermediary's vote has far more weight, and its interests will be served at the expense of the client (consumers). What makes it more perverse is this intermediary also has the goal of manipulating our consumption decisions, using information asymmetries and our own psychological weaknesses against us, and we fund them!
When he says "ads make the world go round", that should scare the shit out of invisible hand believers.
He says users are the real customers and their interests are not being served. Of course not! The invisible hand works because buyers directly pay for the things they choose to use. They vote with their wallets. But when things appear to be free and the true cost are hidden and indirect[1], the voting becomes rigged. When there is a intermediary (advertising) that distributes consumer dollars to publishers, that intermediary's vote has far more weight, and its interests will be served at the expense of the client (consumers). What makes it more perverse is this intermediary also has the goal of manipulating our consumption decisions, using information asymmetries and our own psychological weaknesses against us, and we fund them!
When he says "ads make the world go round", that should scare the shit out of invisible hand believers.
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[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7485773