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.
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
So if it is my livelihood, I should be able to manipulate people?
I was feeling inhibited to do so but it makes more sense coming from that perspective.
So if it is my livelihood, I should be able to manipulate people?
Where above has this been mentioned?
In the serving ads as a form of getting to be paid part?
Ok. If that's so, from the same sentence I can conclude that OP stated that working is a form of manipulation and nobody should work, ever. But, NO. No need to put words into one's mouth unless it's specifically written as such.
What? I have been talking about ads all along. If you reacted to me, you reacted to me asking about ads.
.... Here we go again!
On our own
Going down the only road we've ever known
I tolerated them when using Boost but it may soon be a thing of the past.
You can pay for ad-free Boost. It is not a lot of money. Boost is my favourite app, and in my mind it was well worth it.
Try Voyager.
I tried it but I can't stand the interface. It feels so wasteful. It's like ios.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You see the same ones on youtube. Most of them point at Chinese propaganda (epoch times)
The ones I get on YouTube and constantly report are the ones saying the irs or government owes you thousands of dollars and they use like stock footage of celebrities with crappy ai voiceovers to trick people into falling for it.
that just comes with the territory at the moment, which is why i either pay for ad removal (one-time payments only), use open source alternatives and use an adblocker.
There are much better apps for Lemmy without trackers and tons of permissions.
Lmao you're really upset that you don't just have an unbroken stream of the leftist slop you usually see?
Ah, if you're against guns you're now a leftist.
Well considering that it just so happens to be the left that's looking for gun control in this situation, and op is crying like a bitch that he saw a right wing ad, yes.
No it's anyone with remotely a brain that's looking for gun control. Being able to rub two brain cells together isn't a matter of a political spectrum, even though sometimes the matters can overlap.
Reading the way this person speaks to everyone, they clearly are a stable, thoughtful person who should have guns.
Lmao funny how you just jump to insults because your worthless position is indefensible.
Of course. Like I said before, don't let something like facts or statistics about gun control vs gun bonanza countries crime stand in the way of your narrative. That'll just destroy the mainstream media narrative you're clinging to.
Lmao probably don't talk about facts because they don't support whatever crap you want
op is crying like a little bitch
funny how you just jump to insults because your worthless position is indefensible.
Pot, meet kettle.
And all the downvotes just mean they must be onto the truth! /s
Boost uses Googles ad thingy so you'll have to go through the Google routes. Boost just displays them
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.
if i recall correctly, the app developer can also block specific adverts too though (or at least some categories)
There are plenty of guns outright banned in Canada. Pretty disingenuous to claim its just a registry.
The picture is showing someone with a hunting rifle, which is not banned. Assault weapons and handguns are indeed forbidden, but guns are not blanket banned in Canada. You can still buy and shoot a hunting rifle, which this ad suggests is banned while in fact, it is not. There is a registry for those, but not a ban.
And anyway I wanted to know how to report the ad, not your opinion on the ad itself. It's the community for Boost and I had a question on Boost, not political discussions.
The picture is showing someone with a hunting rifle, which is not banned
This Remington Model 742 chambered in .280 is a hunting rifle.
This Benelli R1 is a hunting rifle.
Both of those were on Trudeau's list to be banned and confiscated not even a year ago.
Your own indigenous peoples were pissed off at this.
In October of 2023 the idea was brought back and expanded.
The Canadian Government is absolutely trying to ban (not registration) an entire class of firearms that does in fact include more than a few hunting rifles. People who care are once again trying to stop it...and that's why there is an ad and that's why it's not "misinformation" no matter what you personally think.
I’m opposed to blanket gun bans, but I’m not sure I’d trust “The Gun Blog”as an unbiased provider of reliable information.
That said, the proposal that pissed me off the most was to ban all firearms that are capable of accepting a larger than five round magazine. You want to ban 10 round magazines, fine, I don’t need 10 rounds for my tikka. But banning my target rifle because ten rounders exist for it? Fuck right off.
Unfortunately, you made it a political discussion the moment you complained about the ad being about firearms. There is no civil place to discuss legality of firearms on the internet, and the introduction of the topic tends to bring out the worst in people on all sides of the discussion.
A little more info, there is no registry for long guns, only restricted firearms (handguns and those firearms arbitrarily determined by the government to be restricted). I am all for stronger gun control in Canada, and this ad is disingenuous, but it absolutely is a ban (amnesty granted to the owners of newly prohibited firearms until October 2025), not the registry that people are complaining about. A ban not necessarily grounded in facts or reality, as there is no consistency in what gets banned and what does not. E.g., AR-15s are restricted, while the more compact but functionally similar Tavor is non-restricted.
As a sport shooter/hunter (NOT right leaning), I just want consistency in the laws I need to follow haha
Have you considered using Lemmy Connect? I've been very happy with it
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.
Community of the Android app Boost for Lemmy
