2 comments

  • iLoveOncall 19 minutes ago
    After living in 2 EU countries and the UK for decades, I don't think I've ever seen a political ad on any Google product (and even overall?).

    It's probably a very minor impact to Google's ad bottom line.

    • seumars 16 minutes ago
      Same here. I also wonder who would even target their political ads at european audiences.
      • cj 10 minutes ago
        EU countries have elections, too.
        • PoignardAzur 3 minutes ago
          I don't know what various countries' norms are, but if people aren't used to political ads and are generally suspicious of the concept, an ad may have negative utility.

          I know if I saw a paid ad for a candidate that would make me want to vote against them.

          • Aardwolf 1 minute ago
            Paper flyers in your mailbox, and billboards in people's gardens, are some very common forms of advertisement during elections I've seen in multiple countries in Europe
  • delichon 14 minutes ago
    Less poltical information from fewer sources equals incumbent protection. This is a regression for democracy and an advance for oligarchy.
    • LeifCarrotson 7 minutes ago
      "Information" is not what's being presented in YouTube ads. And non-incumbents/non-oligarchs can't afford to run those ads anyways.
    • Mashimo 0 minutes ago
      How does this advance an oligarchy?
    • x3ro 10 minutes ago
      Interesting, why do you think so?

      I feel like paid, targeted ads on platforms everyone uses are extremely insidous, because an incumbent or major political party will always have more funds than an e.g. an upstart party, and targeting is generally bad as it's easy to play into people's preconceived notions that way, instead of presenting your position or the change you advocate for.

      Edit: replaced "incumbent" with "incumebt or major political party"

    • paulryanrogers 11 minutes ago
      Can't uploaders still post political videos?

      Based on the political ads I've seen over the years, people are better off hearing from non-paid sources.

    • datway 11 minutes ago
      Oligarchy actually does great with less regulation too.
    • piva00 7 minutes ago
      I don't know, watching how USA's elections unfold with ads I don't see much real information, it's a whole lot of noise with ads not beholden to any kind of truth. One can claim anything in those ads, attack politicians not even based on what they say or what their platform states as far as it's not clear cut libel and/or defamation, plaster some fearmongering and lies on an ad and run with it to damage opponents.

      The less noise there's for this kind of bullshit, the better. I'm really happy that every place I've lived so far doesn't have more sources of noise during elections.