advertising

Remember when Google’s default setting was to maximize your privacy? Well, Google doesn’t. The internet’s biggest advertising company has now quietly shifted its baseline privacy behavior, so you’ll want to watch out if you’re creating any new accounts. As ProPublica explains, Google has...

reworked its code to circumvent ad-blockers, couching it to users as an educational move. Because they give you tools to manage your experience (within their boundaries), Facebook said, you wouldn’t need your pesky little ad-blocker anymore! Ad-blocking companies responded swiftly and...

Facebook — one of the world’s largest advertising companies — magnanimously acknowledges that in your life on the internet, you’ve probably encountered some bad ads. And you almost certainly have, because online advertising can be obtrusive, creepy, and irritating to say the least. But Facebook...

Facebook announced in recent weeks that they’re expanding their advertising empire. With that change, came a stealthy new privacy setting for users — one that all of us are opted-in to by default. Instead of just selling ads on Facebook, or on Facebook platforms (like WhatsApp and Instagram)...

YOU might have noticed that even when using a lightning-fast Internet connection, it takes a few beats, enough time to drum your fingers, for web pages to load. It’s likely because of online advertising, which bogs down your browser, drains your battery and jacks up mobile charges — not to...

These Google search results may look normal at first glance, but if you look closely, you’ll see that these ads are being “injected” into the page by a third party. Legitimate advertising is an annoyance that most of us tolerate and do our best to ignore. But there are more pernicious forms of...

"I'm sorry. Our intentions were good." Ethan Zuckerman was a designer and programmer for the early web-hosting service Tripod.com when a car company freaked out. The unspecified manufacturer had bought a banner ad on a page that "celebrated anal sex," and was not too pleased at the association...