this post was submitted on 16 May 2025
198 points (98.5% liked)

Technology

70266 readers
4051 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
technopagan@lemmy.world
L4s@lemmy.world
L3s@hackingne.ws
L4s@hackingne.ws
198
Inappropriate Ads on Child-Directed Websites: Weight Loss Pills and Depression Tests for Kids. (news.rub.de)
submitted 6 days ago by Pro@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world
22 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] WhatsTheHoldup@lemmy.ml 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This thread seems scarily naive for people who are technically knowledgeable enough to be on lemmy.

depression test? Some people certainly would benefit from knowing that a) no, showing these symptoms is neither normal nor healthy, and b) there can be something done against this.

Yes, someone depressed absolutely could benefit from a psychologically administered depression test.

Do you know what they absolutely would not benefit from? A targetted ad directed at them because analytics flagged them as vulnerable which under the guise of the "depression test" gets them to enter a bunch of personal information which they sell to a bunch of spam companies so said depressed person is now getting woken up at 3 am to 30 spam calls.

And now better help is being spammed to you all over YouTube and ads and instead of going to a reputable therapist you get yourself scammed and don't actually get the real therapist who can help.

Do you genuinely think reliable medical tests are being targeted at you through ads?

[–] einkorn@feddit.org -3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Do you genuinely think reliable medical tests are being targeted at you through ads?

Nope, but that is an entirely different problem. Major platforms have to be legislated to tightly control which ads they run. The amount of misinformation spread through ads is enormous.

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Major platforms have to be legislated to tightly control which ads they run.

or maybe which age groups are allowed to see them?

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml -2 points 6 days ago

There's no way to enforce that without massive privacy violations.

You want to be asked to scan your ID every time you use a mature website?

[–] WhatsTheHoldup@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 days ago

Nope, but that is an entirely different problem.

Is it? In your last comment you had said?

Also, a depression test? Some people certainly would benefit from knowing that a) no, showing these symptoms is neither normal nor healthy, and b) there can be something done against this.

If you acknowledge that the "depression tests" which show up in targetted ads are not reliable, then I think we both realize a) and b) are not the goals of these tests. Making money is.

So people actually wouldn't benefit from seeing this, it might actually harm them by giving a bad impression and push them away from legitimate mental health professionals.