1 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: More Zone Media. Hello, and welcome to Better Offline. I'm 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: at Zetron. This episode is the first of a three 3 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,680 Speaker 1: part series about how the tech industry has been snatched 4 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: from the hands of people who actually build things using 5 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: software and hardware by a bunch of managers that have 6 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:32,800 Speaker 1: little or no interaction with the products they're actually profiting from. 7 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: The same managers also don't appear to do much work, 8 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: and today I'm going to walk you through exactly how 9 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: bad things have gotten as a result. In early April, 10 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:47,160 Speaker 1: Meta revealed in Emotion Training to dismiss an FTC anti 11 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:51,520 Speaker 1: monopoly lawsuit that Instagram made an astonishing thirty two point 12 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: four billion dollars in advertising revenue in twenty twenty one. 13 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: That figure becomes even more shocking when you consider Google's 14 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: YouTube only made twenty eight point eight billion dollars during 15 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:06,960 Speaker 1: the same period. I'd argue YouTube is significantly more useful anyway. 16 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: Bloomberg reports that Instagram made almost thirty percent of Meta's 17 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: entire revenue in the early part of twenty twenty two. 18 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: Ninety six percent of Meta's forty point one billion dollar 19 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: fourth quarter twenty twenty three revenue came from advertising and 20 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: It's made over one hundred billion dollars a year since 21 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, a trend that's likely to continue based 22 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: on the fact that the only thing these platforms care 23 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:36,319 Speaker 1: about is ducing as much revenue from these apps. Google 24 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,880 Speaker 1: made eighty six point three billion dollars in the fourth 25 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:42,919 Speaker 1: quarter of twenty twenty three, with forty eight billion dollars 26 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:45,759 Speaker 1: of that coming from Google Search and its related advertising, 27 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: up thirteen percent from the previous quarter. According to Pew Research, 28 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 1: in America, eighty three percent of adults use YouTube, sixty 29 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: eight percent of the meuse Facebook, and forty seven percent 30 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: of the mew's Instagram. Each platform both over two billion users, 31 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: and over the last three years, Meta and Google have 32 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:09,079 Speaker 1: made over a half trillion dollars in revenue from these platforms. 33 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 1: I now want you to go to Facebook. I want 34 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:14,640 Speaker 1: you to scroll down, and I want you to see 35 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: how quickly you hit an advertisement or a sponsored content thing. 36 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: In my case, after a single post from a friend, 37 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 1: I was immediately hit with a suggestion for me to 38 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:28,799 Speaker 1: join a group for adult Bluey fans. I do not 39 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: watch blue I have not watched Bluey. This was then 40 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: followed by a post from a friend, followed by another ad, 41 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: followed by two posts and friends, followed by a suggestion 42 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: to join a group called Aviation Meme Lords, followed by 43 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,520 Speaker 1: another ad. On Instagram, I saw one post from a 44 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: person I followed, followed by an AD for a game, 45 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 1: followed by a suggested video, followed by something from someone 46 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: I followed, followed by a suggested video, followed by an 47 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 1: ad of followed by a person I followed posting something, 48 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,640 Speaker 1: and then another yested piece of content the first ad. 49 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: When I clicked my Stories, a totally different and even 50 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: more confusing part of Instagram that's mostly just a rip 51 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:11,840 Speaker 1: off of Snapchat, I got an ad for a game 52 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:14,919 Speaker 1: using footage that isn't actually in the game itself, an 53 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:18,360 Speaker 1: outright bait and switch employed by mobile game developers like 54 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,079 Speaker 1: those who make Ebony, that make millions of dollars off 55 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:27,640 Speaker 1: of these horrifying, annoying, micro transaction heavy games. When I 56 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: went to YouTube, my first result was for an eleven 57 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: minute long Taiwanese news video of some sort. The next 58 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: one was a video that appeared to be in Chinese. 59 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: I don't speak these languages. That's my fault, not theirs, 60 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: but it is kind of YouTube's wort for trying to 61 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: show them to me. In fact, when I went around 62 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 1: and I scrolled through, it was all in Chinese. So 63 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: I went to Google and I typed, why are my 64 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 1: YouTube videos in Chinese? The first result was a Reddit 65 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: post where several users were, for whatever reason, being served 66 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 1: random videos in Chinese. There was actually no conclusion to this. 67 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: I still do not know why this happened. I can't read. 68 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 1: I can only speak and read of like in English, 69 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: and I can barely do that. I'm very sorry anyways, 70 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: Google though, is especially annoying because while researching the beginning 71 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:18,719 Speaker 1: of this podcast, it took me about half an hour 72 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 1: to get the basics for the beginning because every time 73 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:24,280 Speaker 1: I googled something like, say, what percentage of web traffic 74 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: goes to Google? Which I really was not able to find. 75 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: I kept being given these so called authoritative sources like 76 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 1: Forbes Advisor, which to be clear, is not Forbes magazine. 77 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: It is an affiliate marketing arm of Forbes. It's very deceptive. 78 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 1: The sources inside the Forbes Advisor piece I found ranged 79 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: from things from blogging wizard to a literal list of 80 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,719 Speaker 1: website names with no links. I'm talking about just a 81 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: plaintext list. The state of Google's very worrying. A year 82 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,359 Speaker 1: long study from Leipzig University published last year and reported 83 00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:59,160 Speaker 1: on by Jason Kobler of four or four Media found 84 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:01,679 Speaker 1: that the quality of good Google search results has decayed 85 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: at a remarkable rate. The incentives of content creators to 86 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:10,160 Speaker 1: search engine optimize their content based on standards published by 87 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: Google has filled search full of crap, with higher ranked 88 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: pages that are on average, more optimized, more monetized with 89 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:24,159 Speaker 1: affiliate marketing, and featuring predominantly lower quality text. To make 90 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,039 Speaker 1: matters worse, the researchers found that only a small portion 91 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:30,039 Speaker 1: of product reviews on the web use affiliate marketing, but 92 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:33,800 Speaker 1: the majority of search results raised by Google do. If 93 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: you're unfamiliar with affiliate marketing, it's when outlets run pieces 94 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:41,279 Speaker 1: about something, say top ten speakers or top ten laptops, 95 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: and they have a bunch of links like Amazon or 96 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 1: Walmart of best Buy, and they get a little bit 97 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: of cash from the platform. When everyone someone clicks that 98 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: and buys something doesn't even have to be the thing 99 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: that they were originally clicking on. This revenue model incentivizes 100 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 1: sites to write lots of best of articles that exist 101 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: entirely to make click things to make the money. To 102 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: be clear, this is actually a perfectly normal business model 103 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: in the right hands. The Wirecutter has done a great 104 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:13,200 Speaker 1: job of monetizing affiliate marketing while providing very thorough recommendations. 105 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:16,200 Speaker 1: The Verge has two there are decent people doing this. 106 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:18,919 Speaker 1: The majority of them are not decent though, Just so 107 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 1: we're abundantly clear. To quote the study, search engine optimization 108 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: is a constant battle, and we in this case the 109 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 1: study people see repeated patterns of review spam, entering, and 110 00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 1: leaving the results as search engines and SEO engineers take 111 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:39,279 Speaker 1: turns adjusting their parameters. So in Layman's terms, Google is 112 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:43,280 Speaker 1: in this battle with the people writing search engine optimized content. Now, 113 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 1: to be clear, this content, the search optimized stuff, is 114 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: done so with Google's approval. And there are people at 115 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: Google who'll kind of nudge you in the right direction. 116 00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: They never really give full directions, but they they're okay 117 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:00,599 Speaker 1: with search engine optimization. You think they wouldn't be, you'd 118 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: think they'd want to fight for like standards and quality, 119 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 1: but no, they actively help these people gain the system. 120 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 1: So what Google will do is they will update Google 121 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: and then these people will change their means to beat Google, 122 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:15,440 Speaker 1: and then Google will maybe update again. And that's kind 123 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: of the problem. You see. The Leipzig University researchers refer 124 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: to tweets to these algorithms to fight spam as only 125 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: really having a temporarily positive effect, and that search engines 126 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: always seem to lose the cat and mouse game that 127 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: is seo spam now. In March twenty twenty four, Google 128 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,440 Speaker 1: announced that it was making changes to its algorithm that 129 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: would reduce spam and AI generated content by forty percent, 130 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:43,120 Speaker 1: and very specifically said it would raise human authored content 131 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: to the top of Google. Everyone in the press was 132 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 1: gleeful about this. They're saying how good it was and 133 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,240 Speaker 1: that Google was finally doing something. It's been a month, 134 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:56,240 Speaker 1: nothing's happened. Things still suck. Scammy outlets called things like 135 00:07:56,320 --> 00:08:00,600 Speaker 1: tech Gate and Daily Good Morning Kashmir wholesale steel articles, 136 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:03,480 Speaker 1: and places like tech Crunch and coin Telegraph, and at 137 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: times these stolen articles will rank above or in place 138 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: of the original articles, depriving journalists and publishers of traffic 139 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: and revenue. It's insane. I briefly sparred with Danny Sullivan, 140 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: who is the he's the search liaism for Google about 141 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 1: this and tech gate has now disappeared as of doing 142 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: this day. The Good Morning Kashmir has them, And indeed 143 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:30,240 Speaker 1: there are multiple journalists I know that have said that 144 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: their articles are regularly outpaced by these spam shops. And 145 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:37,439 Speaker 1: seemingly every time I talk to anyone on the Google 146 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:39,480 Speaker 1: side about this, they say, ah, I am I done. 147 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:41,080 Speaker 1: I want to do about it. Danny's a good bloke. 148 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: Danny used to run search engine land, I believe, and yeah, 149 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:46,840 Speaker 1: he's just part of the machine now and it sucks. 150 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: Danny's a good bloke. I want to like Danny. But mate, Danny, 151 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,600 Speaker 1: if you're gonna be the search liaison, it's art to 152 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:56,439 Speaker 1: liaise with the search engine, it's time to promote the 153 00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: journalists saying oh, mate, we don't know how to fix 154 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 1: the machine is not aloody excuse. Google, a company worth 155 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: around two trillion dollars, is either unable or unwilling to 156 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 1: fix the problem. But I think the truth might be 157 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,720 Speaker 1: just a little simpler. There's just no incentive for it 158 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:17,320 Speaker 1: to make things better, as Google Search remains one of 159 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: the most profitable businesses in the damn world. In episode two. 160 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,599 Speaker 1: By the way, I'm going to tell you the people responsible, 161 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: and they're led by a fellow called Prabhakar Ragavan. You're 162 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: gonna hear that name a lot in the next episode. 163 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 1: I'm not going to say it another time. I've been 164 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:37,720 Speaker 1: thinking and saying it a lot though. Anyway, this is 165 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:41,600 Speaker 1: the state of the modern Internet. Ultra profitable platforms outright 166 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:45,680 Speaker 1: abdicating any responsibility toward the customer or even the wider 167 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:49,640 Speaker 1: digital ecosystem. They're not offering a service or a portal 168 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 1: or an app or a useful thing, but they're finding 169 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:55,040 Speaker 1: as many ways to interrupt you, the user, to push 170 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 1: you into doing something or seeing something that's profitable for them. 171 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 1: And yes, I really I am describing modern business. But 172 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: if you look at Facebook or Instagram right now, can 173 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: you really tell me that's a service. Can you really 174 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 1: tell me you are getting to see your friends and 175 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 1: family on Instagram or Facebook. No, the whole thing's a mess, 176 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: a huge, big, ultra profitable mess. The greatest lie in 177 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:25,560 Speaker 1: tech is that Facebook and Instagram are for catching up 178 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: with your friends, because that's not what they do, and 179 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,840 Speaker 1: it's not what they've done for years. These platforms are 180 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:36,000 Speaker 1: now pathways for this nebulous concept of content discovery, which 181 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,480 Speaker 1: really means it's just a barely personalized entertainment network that 182 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:43,120 Speaker 1: occasionally drizzles or dribbles things you choose to see on 183 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:46,280 Speaker 1: top of crappy sponsored content, ads and groups that are 184 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 1: part of a relational database that has your name on it. 185 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:52,480 Speaker 1: On some level, it's kind of hard to say you 186 00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:55,959 Speaker 1: even use these apps anymore. The term use suggests the 187 00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:59,240 Speaker 1: level of industry and user control that Meta has spent 188 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: over high for a decade destroying, and they've turned Instagram 189 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:05,720 Speaker 1: and Facebook into tubes to funnel human beings in front 190 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:08,319 Speaker 1: of those who either pay for the privilege of visibility 191 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:11,360 Speaker 1: or have found ways to trick Facebook's algorithms into showing 192 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:15,560 Speaker 1: you their crap. And it's all the direct result of 193 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:17,920 Speaker 1: what I call the rot economy, a growth at all 194 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:21,160 Speaker 1: cost mindset built off the back of immovable monopolies where 195 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 1: tech companies profitably punish you as a means of showing 196 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:29,200 Speaker 1: the markets eternal growth. In practice, this means turning these 197 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:32,400 Speaker 1: platforms into something that offers you a service into something 198 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,319 Speaker 1: that drives engagement, which, in Facebook and Instagram's case, means 199 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: finding the maximum amount of times they can interrupt you 200 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 1: before you close the app entirely. In Google's case, it 201 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:46,320 Speaker 1: means making changes the search that made advertisements and sponsored 202 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,840 Speaker 1: links kind of impossible to tell the difference between for 203 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:53,560 Speaker 1: most people, and making it so that users had to 204 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,679 Speaker 1: make more queries on Google. Now I sound paranoid when 205 00:11:57,679 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 1: I say that I realized the idea that Google would 206 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:02,640 Speaker 1: have a metric that said, we need people to search 207 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:06,840 Speaker 1: for more stuff on Google. I am quoting Google saying 208 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:10,400 Speaker 1: this emails from the antitrust lawsuit between them and the 209 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:13,880 Speaker 1: Department of Justice. Episode two. I'm going to go into it, 210 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:18,120 Speaker 1: don't you worry? And really it is kind of the 211 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:22,559 Speaker 1: government's fault here. They've taken this optimistic, respectful and trustworthy 212 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: approach to tech. They've said, well, tech is providing something 213 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:28,480 Speaker 1: for free, aren't they, so really can't be too much 214 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:32,400 Speaker 1: of a bastard to them. And the result is we've 215 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 1: just got this Internet riddled with decay and pain. It's 216 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 1: an Internet that incentivizes mining human beings like veins of awe. 217 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: And in these next few episodes, I'm going to walk 218 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:45,439 Speaker 1: you through how big tech turned the Internet into a 219 00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:49,520 Speaker 1: multi trillion dollar social experiment. And I'm going to name 220 00:12:49,559 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: the bastards responsible underpinning these profitable torture machines. It's an 221 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: online advertisement industry built off the back of fucking advertisers 222 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:11,160 Speaker 1: and users alike. In the mid twenty tens, Facebook mistakenly 223 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:14,800 Speaker 1: told online publishers that their videos were receiving more engagement 224 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:19,360 Speaker 1: than they actually did, leading to multiple publishers pivoting to video, 225 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:23,079 Speaker 1: a disastrous industry movement that cost hundreds of reporters their jobs. 226 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,720 Speaker 1: Led to a massive class action suit against meta media. 227 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 1: Companies based on Facebook's lies radically changed their operations, with 228 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:33,839 Speaker 1: MTV News cutting its entire rating team and shifting to 229 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:37,559 Speaker 1: short form video in July twenty seventeen. Vocative did the same. 230 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:42,040 Speaker 1: The following month, Vice Media cut roughly sixty editorial roles 231 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,360 Speaker 1: and expanded its video production capabilities. In response to this 232 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: so called growth, Mike, a much smaller company than MTV 233 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,840 Speaker 1: newser Vice Media but quite beloved at the time, slashed 234 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 1: ten rolls and shifted the rest of its output to video, 235 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:57,800 Speaker 1: going all in on a bet that, as you can guess, 236 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:00,520 Speaker 1: failed catastrophically, with the company eventually being sold off the 237 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:04,600 Speaker 1: Bustle Digital Group for a pittance. Those video roles were 238 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 1: of course cut or vastly reduced when it was obvious 239 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:10,959 Speaker 1: that there really wasn't any engagement on these things that 240 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:13,360 Speaker 1: I have a whole episode on this, please go back 241 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: and listen to it. Meta is also currently the subject 242 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:20,400 Speaker 1: of a class action suit led by Metroplex Communications, which 243 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 1: claimed that metas inflated metrics lwered advertisers away from competing platforms, 244 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,560 Speaker 1: something that has been sued for before. When all of 245 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:32,520 Speaker 1: your incentives are aligned around bigger and more and growth, 246 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:36,560 Speaker 1: you'll take just about anybody's money. In Meta's case, this 247 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:40,560 Speaker 1: means getting advertisers who compare the COVID nineteen vaccine to 248 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: the Holocaust, or quack doctors with phony cancer treatments, scammers 249 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: selling counterfeit phishing equipment, scammers offering fake discounts for puzzles, 250 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:53,440 Speaker 1: and of course, cryptocurrency cons An investigation from late last 251 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: year found that a third of advertisements on Facebook marketplace 252 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 1: in the UK were scams, and earlier in the year, 253 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:02,760 Speaker 1: UK financial services authorities said it had banned more than 254 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:06,920 Speaker 1: ten thousand illegal investment ads across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and 255 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: TikTok in twenty twenty two alone. A fifteen hundred percent 256 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:15,240 Speaker 1: increase over the past year, and as these platforms begin 257 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 1: to decay, things only get worse for the user. Elon 258 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: Musk's acquisition of Twitter and his obvious outright hostility towards 259 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:26,840 Speaker 1: blue chip advertisers, and also his anti Semitic posts just 260 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: there's a lot of bad stuff with Elon. They've turned 261 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,440 Speaker 1: Twitter into kind of the digital equivalent of Downtown Vegas. 262 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:36,400 Speaker 1: Seemingly every post is replied to by a bot offering 263 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:39,480 Speaker 1: nudes in bio, or pussy in bio, something in bio, 264 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:41,840 Speaker 1: or at the moment, quite literally, just a picture of 265 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:45,560 Speaker 1: a fully nude woman, which is pretty funny until you 266 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: realize that according to John Herman and New York Magazine, 267 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:52,760 Speaker 1: these bots are afront for a series of very big, 268 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: nasty online dating scams that lose people tens of thousands 269 00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: of dollars. Elon Musk choosing to check the blue check 270 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 1: mark from something that was given by Twitter to say 271 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:05,560 Speaker 1: that you are the real person into a thing that 272 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:09,040 Speaker 1: you buy for eight dollars has allowed cryptocurrency scammers, according 273 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:12,600 Speaker 1: to Protos, to make millions by tricking users into connecting 274 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:17,360 Speaker 1: their wallets to fund drain their entire thing like it's 275 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:20,800 Speaker 1: somewhat technical, but you just click these websites and you say, yeah, sure, 276 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 1: i'll connect my whilet and then they take all of 277 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: your money. And it seems like they're even buying ads 278 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:28,640 Speaker 1: on the platform to do so, using stolen credit cards 279 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: musks desperation for ad revenue has even led Twitter to 280 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:36,160 Speaker 1: start pushing ads that don't actually say their ads, leading 281 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: to an advertising watchdog called check my Ads to file 282 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: a formal complaint with the FTC demanding that it investigates 283 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:46,840 Speaker 1: Twitter and enforces its truth in advertising standards. Also, right 284 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: now on Twitter, there is something called the Creator program, 285 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,360 Speaker 1: and if you have Twitter Blue, that's right, you have 286 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: to pay them to get paid. You can make a 287 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:58,120 Speaker 1: little money off of advertising. When other Twitter Blue people reply. 288 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: The significance of this is right now, Twitter is posting 289 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:07,679 Speaker 1: tons of unlabeled ads for mister Beast videos so that 290 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: Elon Musk can give money to mister Beasts, so that 291 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 1: mister Beast will repost things from YouTube, allowing Elon Musk 292 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:18,679 Speaker 1: to pay him money. It's a very confusing thing, and 293 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:21,879 Speaker 1: Twitter is really bad. I won't call it X. I 294 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:24,720 Speaker 1: think X is a stupid name. It's terrible to search for. 295 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:27,359 Speaker 1: It sucks. The whole site kind of sucks. I'm on 296 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 1: it until the end. It's like the Titanic. I can 297 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: see the iceberg coming, but nevertheless it's in a bad way. 298 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: Yet it's foolish to act as if the sorry state 299 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:40,399 Speaker 1: of Twitter is really that different to the rest of 300 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:44,920 Speaker 1: the web. Instagram is flooded with pornobots. It has been 301 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: for years, and what they do is they engage with 302 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:51,359 Speaker 1: regular posts enough times through likes and replies as a 303 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:54,240 Speaker 1: means of pretending they're real so that they can avoid 304 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:58,880 Speaker 1: Meta's flimsy automated content moderation, and that, by the way, 305 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:03,639 Speaker 1: is only quasi auto. Meta also underpays, horribly underpays. I 306 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 1: should add people in other countries like Kenya, they make 307 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:09,680 Speaker 1: as little as two dollars and twenty cents an hour 308 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:13,080 Speaker 1: to view what Wired referred to as the most hideous 309 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:15,879 Speaker 1: content on the Internet. Because that's what's important to know. 310 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:19,440 Speaker 1: Meta is doing something. They're stopping you from seeing literal 311 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:22,920 Speaker 1: beheadings and child abuse and such, and they're doing that 312 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:29,119 Speaker 1: by paying basically prison labor rates in other countries. This 313 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 1: is also something that open ai and AI companies do 314 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:34,399 Speaker 1: with training data. It's a disgusting practice. They should all 315 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:35,880 Speaker 1: be in a lot of trouble for this, and they 316 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: never will be because no one ever eld them accountable. 317 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 1: Much like every major tech platform, Meta is just half 318 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,680 Speaker 1: fastening its approach to moderation, and they're committing human rights 319 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:46,560 Speaker 1: violations to do so, so that they can spend the 320 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:49,239 Speaker 1: smallest amount of money possible to stop the things it 321 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:52,320 Speaker 1: needs to stop you seeing. They need to make sure 322 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:55,119 Speaker 1: you don't see someone being stabbed to death on Facebook. 323 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:58,480 Speaker 1: They don't really need to stop pornography or scams. They 324 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:01,920 Speaker 1: should need to should be a government body that stops them, 325 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: but there isn't, so they don't. As you'd expect, these 326 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:10,359 Speaker 1: standards have led to Facebook being flooded with generative AI 327 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: content spam, and a study came out of Stanford and 328 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:17,520 Speaker 1: Georgetown that revealed that Facebook's algorithm is now boasting spam 329 00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:20,760 Speaker 1: content riddled with misinformation, and they're sending hundreds of millions 330 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 1: of impressions to pages that direct people to WordPress sites 331 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,400 Speaker 1: crammed full of spammy and scammy ads. It's insane. It's 332 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:29,919 Speaker 1: actually really crazy. When you really look into this, you 333 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:32,280 Speaker 1: can see that the web is falling apart in front 334 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:35,439 Speaker 1: of us. And yet the most obvious sign of this 335 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:39,560 Speaker 1: decay is just visiting a website on your telephone. Go 336 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:41,880 Speaker 1: to IGN dot com lot could people work at Igana 337 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:44,000 Speaker 1: Feel bad for saying this, but they have over three 338 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:46,760 Speaker 1: hundred million views and you go on there and you 339 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:50,080 Speaker 1: immediately hit with two giant ads, one that fills the 340 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:53,960 Speaker 1: top thirty page and auto playing videos. And this happens 341 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:56,479 Speaker 1: on a lot of sites. ESPN also another third for this. 342 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:01,160 Speaker 1: It's so weird. When I I went on there earlier, 343 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:03,320 Speaker 1: I was hit with two giant acts. They took up 344 00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:06,120 Speaker 1: most of my screen, and on opening a story about 345 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:07,880 Speaker 1: the new for that TV show, which is very good, 346 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:11,280 Speaker 1: I'll give them that, it then covered the top quarter 347 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:13,959 Speaker 1: of my screen with another or playing at It's so weird. 348 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:16,879 Speaker 1: It's so weird when you see this happening. I feel 349 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: like more people should be talking about this. This field. 350 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:23,480 Speaker 1: It's like if the road was just full of used condoms. 351 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,320 Speaker 1: It's like if there was trash everywhere. This is the 352 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: web now anyway, Anyway, Reach PLC. They are publicly traded, 353 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 1: multimillion dollar business that dominates local journalism in the UK 354 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:38,399 Speaker 1: and they hold basically monopolies in several regions and also 355 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:43,440 Speaker 1: own three newspapers. Very depressing, they're notorious for this kind 356 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: of aggressive approach to monetization. Their websites have been described 357 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:50,119 Speaker 1: as an over monetized mess and impossible to navigate with 358 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,639 Speaker 1: a poor digital experience. Named as a partial contributor to 359 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:57,200 Speaker 1: the declining financial fortunes of one of the more loathsome 360 00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: companies in the world. If you open a local new 361 00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: UK news website, especially one owned by Reach, with just 362 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:07,199 Speaker 1: Safari on your phone, for example, you'll be met with 363 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:11,560 Speaker 1: an endless deluge of page covering ads that appear in 364 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,119 Speaker 1: the middle of articles as you're scrolling, and other ads 365 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:16,639 Speaker 1: that redirect you to an external website without any warning, 366 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:19,199 Speaker 1: or while you're on the page trying to read the 367 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:22,840 Speaker 1: thing that you went to the website for. Even the 368 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:26,080 Speaker 1: giants of journalism haven't resisted the temptation to fuck their 369 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,800 Speaker 1: users over. CNN, one of the most influential news publications 370 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:33,520 Speaker 1: in the world by hundreds of millions of people. They 371 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:37,760 Speaker 1: host their own journalism and they spice in spami content 372 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,960 Speaker 1: from something called a chumbox company. And these companies make 373 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,240 Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of dollars driving clicks to everything from 374 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:49,000 Speaker 1: just scams to straight up this information. And you'll find 375 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:51,720 Speaker 1: them on CNN, you find them on NBC, you find 376 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: them in tons of major media outlets, and all of 377 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:58,000 Speaker 1: them are these insane stories, like two steps to tell 378 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:00,399 Speaker 1: when a slot is close to hitting the jackpot, or 379 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:03,879 Speaker 1: the best hearing aid. It's really strange to see this 380 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,879 Speaker 1: in the in between Pulitzer Prize winning journalists and like 381 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 1: international conflicts. These chum box companies. They're ubiquitous because they 382 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:16,160 Speaker 1: pay well, and it makes them super attractive to cash 383 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:20,080 Speaker 1: strap media entities because you can just plug this bollocks 384 00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:23,000 Speaker 1: in and you just get money, even if it makes 385 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:27,280 Speaker 1: your products suck. And they're awful. They're super horrible. They're 386 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,520 Speaker 1: ruining the web, and they keep making more money. In 387 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,760 Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, the late great podcast reply All, which by 388 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: the way, was killed by the rot economy Fuck you 389 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:40,359 Speaker 1: Spotify anyway. Reply All had an episode that centered around 390 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:43,359 Speaker 1: a widower whose wife's death had been hijacked by one 391 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:47,040 Speaker 1: of these chumbox advertisers to push content that, using stolen 392 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:51,280 Speaker 1: family photos, implied she had been unfaithful to him. The 393 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:53,199 Speaker 1: title of the episode and add for the worst day 394 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,040 Speaker 1: of your life was fitting, and it was only until 395 00:22:56,040 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: a massively popular podcast intervene that any of these networks 396 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:06,480 Speaker 1: ban the advert. These networks outbrain taboola, evil companies run 397 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,919 Speaker 1: by evil people. They're harmful, They're harmful to the Internet, 398 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,680 Speaker 1: They're harmful to users, and they're harmful to the news 399 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: brands that host them. If I was working for a 400 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 1: major news company, I'd be absolutely humiliated to see my 401 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:22,720 Speaker 1: work put next to this nonsense, this celebrity bullshit, these 402 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 1: diet scams, these get rich quick schemes, Tommy Chong's fucking 403 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:31,880 Speaker 1: CBD chews. I apologize swearing, but it's just so frustrating. 404 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:35,919 Speaker 1: Are these outlets so unprofitable that they just have to 405 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:38,680 Speaker 1: sell out like this? I refuse to believe that I 406 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:55,199 Speaker 1: just reviews. The modern Internet was built on a social 407 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:57,520 Speaker 1: contract that said the big tech gave us services for 408 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:01,679 Speaker 1: free in exchange for some sort of nebulous concept of data, 409 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 1: which largely took the form of content and connections we 410 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,320 Speaker 1: made between people and the things that we posted. As 411 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:13,159 Speaker 1: a result, this social contract was both assumed and extremely 412 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:15,600 Speaker 1: easy to enter into because all of these sites were free, 413 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:18,199 Speaker 1: which meant that there was really never any attempt to 414 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,680 Speaker 1: regulate the terms of it. There are terms and conditions, 415 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:24,720 Speaker 1: but that's really it, and you what you're gonna do. 416 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:28,400 Speaker 1: You're gonna barter with meta And there were never conditions 417 00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:31,320 Speaker 1: set for what can't be done to a user, what 418 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:34,920 Speaker 1: can be done with the data. Look at Cambridge Analytica, 419 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,280 Speaker 1: look at all of the different ways that Facebook hads 420 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:40,760 Speaker 1: hurt people. None of that matters to them because it 421 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:44,920 Speaker 1: doesn't have to. They don't care. There's nobody stopping them. 422 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:49,880 Speaker 1: The FDC won't stop them, lawyers won't stop them. It's 423 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:53,560 Speaker 1: very depressing when you say it out loud anyway. As 424 00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:57,880 Speaker 1: a result, these platforms were are a form of bait 425 00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: and switch, which underpins coreytor else very good but annoying 426 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:05,000 Speaker 1: to say in shitification theory, where platforms have built these 427 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 1: massive monopolies based off for in good, useful services and 428 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:13,600 Speaker 1: then turn them into something terrible but very profitable. But 429 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:17,359 Speaker 1: as I've noted before and shertification kind of misses one point, 430 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:19,960 Speaker 1: these companies are not doing this out of a lack 431 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,879 Speaker 1: of profitability or some sort of failure in their business model. 432 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,439 Speaker 1: They're doing so because the Internet has become something between 433 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: a social experiment and a mining operation. They're doing it 434 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:33,600 Speaker 1: because they can. Nobody's stopping them. And doctor Oo has 435 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: upgraded his theory to the insure to see now he 436 00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:38,920 Speaker 1: has brought in some of these things. I think I'm 437 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,040 Speaker 1: just tired of people responding to the Rock economy and 438 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:43,879 Speaker 1: saying in citification Corey Rock's I'm gonna have him on 439 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: the podcast Jesus. But seriously, though, it's not because they're 440 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:52,320 Speaker 1: suddenly left hand hand. They've just kept turning the screw 441 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:54,399 Speaker 1: because who's going to stop them? What's you're going to do? 442 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: Not use Google, not use Facebook, not use Instagram anyway, 443 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:02,399 Speaker 1: Charlie Warsall, who I've given a lot of shit. Charlie 444 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:04,639 Speaker 1: did a good thing there. He framed this well in 445 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:06,920 Speaker 1: a recent piece in the Atlantic published in the middle 446 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:09,720 Speaker 1: of April that described the overall techscape as a form 447 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:13,800 Speaker 1: of hostage negotiation. Interactions with tech companies are no longer 448 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:16,680 Speaker 1: a purchase or a two way contract, but kind of 449 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 1: a trade of information long after you've purchased the product itself. 450 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 1: Every interaction with tech now requires us to share our 451 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,320 Speaker 1: email address or our phone number, to accept a kind 452 00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:30,280 Speaker 1: of subtle tracking. Don't worry it's anonymous, or of course, 453 00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:33,760 Speaker 1: to share your personal information that will probably be leaked. 454 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 1: It's try it at this point to say that human 455 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:40,119 Speaker 1: beings themselves are the product, but it's kind of impossible 456 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,040 Speaker 1: to avoid saying when you look at the state of 457 00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:46,440 Speaker 1: the Internet now. Tech companies have found every imaginable way 458 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:50,320 Speaker 1: to monetize every imaginable thing we do, all based on 459 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:52,639 Speaker 1: the idea that they're providing us with something in return, 460 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:56,280 Speaker 1: and when you really think about it, haven't really provided 461 00:26:56,320 --> 00:27:01,160 Speaker 1: a service at all. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google. They're platforms 462 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:03,840 Speaker 1: that only have as much utility as the content they host, 463 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:07,520 Speaker 1: which is created by billions of mostly unsupported and unpaid users. 464 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,560 Speaker 1: This kind of shitty trade off was meant to be 465 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:14,840 Speaker 1: something that was rewarded, with these platforms creating and hosting 466 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: this content in a way that was easier to find 467 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,120 Speaker 1: and use and to help either surface to a wider 468 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,600 Speaker 1: audience or quickly get it to people we cared about, 469 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:25,600 Speaker 1: all while making sure the conditions we created it under 470 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:29,320 Speaker 1: and posted it under were interesting and safe, something that 471 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:31,359 Speaker 1: I think we can all agree is no longer the 472 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:35,359 Speaker 1: case now. The state of the Internet's now far simpler. 473 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:39,200 Speaker 1: The cost of using free platforms is a constant war, 474 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:43,080 Speaker 1: a war with the incentives and intentions of the platforms themselves. 475 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:47,200 Speaker 1: We're constantly negotiating with Instagram or Facebook to see content 476 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,080 Speaker 1: from people that we chose to follow. Because these platforms 477 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:52,320 Speaker 1: are no longer built to show us things that we 478 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:55,639 Speaker 1: want to see. We no longer search Google, but barter 479 00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 1: with the seedy little search box to try and coax 480 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: out result that isn't either search engine optimized half answer, 481 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 1: or an attempt to trick us into clicking an ad. 482 00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:07,639 Speaker 1: Twitter in its prime succeeded by connecting real people to 483 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 1: real things at a time when the Internet actively manufactures 484 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,639 Speaker 1: or experience in interactions with others. Now, Twitter is mostly 485 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:20,520 Speaker 1: ads and pornobots. Great stuff, but the core problem lies 486 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:23,320 Speaker 1: in the fact that these platforms don't really create anything, 487 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,560 Speaker 1: and their only value exists in making an internet of 488 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:31,400 Speaker 1: billions of people small enough to comprehend. Like seemingly every 489 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:35,040 Speaker 1: goddamn problem with capitalism, the Internet has become dominated by 490 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:38,800 Speaker 1: forces that don't contribute to the product that actually enriches them, 491 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,840 Speaker 1: and as a result, they have no concept or interest 492 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 1: in quality. They only care about more, and this makes 493 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:51,320 Speaker 1: them extremely poor. Arbiters of what good looks like. Inevitably, 494 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,360 Speaker 1: this leads to products that suck as they become more 495 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:57,480 Speaker 1: and more profitable, because the machine they've built is a 496 00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:02,480 Speaker 1: profit excavator dressed up as a god service. I know, 497 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: I hate the whole we're the product thing. I've always 498 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: thought it was very cheesy, but we are literally the product. 499 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:12,000 Speaker 1: We are the content creator that makes Google money while 500 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,120 Speaker 1: also the thing that makes Google money by search and Google, 501 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:20,880 Speaker 1: it's very annoying. Look. By allowing and encouraging search engine optimization, 502 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,920 Speaker 1: Google has handed matches to fucking arsonists and pointed them 503 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,920 Speaker 1: on the most flammable parts of the Internet. The existence 504 00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:30,160 Speaker 1: of SEO is inevitable. People are going to try and 505 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,720 Speaker 1: game any system. But Google should never have encouraged these people. 506 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 1: They should have terrified them. They should have set clear 507 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,160 Speaker 1: standards about what to do and what not to do, 508 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:43,520 Speaker 1: and heavily punished those who failed to comply. Except doing 509 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,080 Speaker 1: so would mean less content on Google, because there'd be 510 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:48,600 Speaker 1: less articles that say things like what time is the 511 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:53,120 Speaker 1: Super Bowl or best televisions to buy. Google actually would 512 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:55,840 Speaker 1: fully have the ability to make most of these problems 513 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,080 Speaker 1: go away. They should treat SEO people like scam artists, 514 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,640 Speaker 1: and they should run them out of town with pitchforks. Instead, 515 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:04,760 Speaker 1: they pat him on the ass and they say, good job, buddy. 516 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:08,360 Speaker 1: I'd argue that the state of search makes Google and 517 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:14,080 Speaker 1: by extension, executives like Sundhar Peshaian Google Search lead Prabhakar Ragavan, 518 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:18,040 Speaker 1: some of the greatest villains in business history. Well, one 519 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:20,320 Speaker 1: can't forget about the damage done by Meta and Mark 520 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:24,680 Speaker 1: Zuckerberg's failure, outright failure to maintain any kind of quality 521 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:28,680 Speaker 1: standards on Instagram and Facebook. Allowing Google Search to decay 522 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:33,160 Speaker 1: so severely for any reason, let alone one that involves profits, 523 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: is actively damaging to society and was an entirely intentional 524 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 1: act perpetrated by people like Ragavan, the former head of 525 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:43,800 Speaker 1: Google's Ads division, who took over search not long after 526 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,560 Speaker 1: his predecessor was burdened by the bullshit demands of the 527 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:50,520 Speaker 1: ads department, led by Ragavan himself. And I'm going to 528 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:54,680 Speaker 1: get into that in episode too, don't you worry. It's 529 00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:58,000 Speaker 1: not enough though, for me to just say how bad 530 00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:00,680 Speaker 1: the web has got. It's not enough. The web is 531 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:03,040 Speaker 1: too bad right now for me to just sit here 532 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:05,719 Speaker 1: and say, oh it sucks. It's so bad. You all 533 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:08,560 Speaker 1: know that. I hope I've helped you find out a 534 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:11,200 Speaker 1: little bit more about it. But this phenomenon, it didn't 535 00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:13,360 Speaker 1: come out of nowhere, and it has a cause, and 536 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 1: that cause is the rise of managers and the managerial 537 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:21,160 Speaker 1: class in tech. These assholes have largely supplanted the voices 538 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:25,080 Speaker 1: of actual technologists, coders, engineers, people who work in software 539 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,600 Speaker 1: and hardware, actual innovators, and replace them with this kind 540 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:33,240 Speaker 1: of zero sum McKinsey s loser, and all they care 541 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:37,120 Speaker 1: about is profit. All they care about is growth, sometimes 542 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:41,440 Speaker 1: growth that destroys profit, and they're actively hostile to workers 543 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:45,640 Speaker 1: and consumers and the actual products they're making. In the 544 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 1: next two episodes, we're going to take a closer look 545 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 1: at these managers and how they're destroying innovation. And we're 546 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:54,520 Speaker 1: going to start with the tale of Prabakar Ragavan, a 547 00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:57,920 Speaker 1: man who has spent his entire life failing up overseeing 548 00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:01,360 Speaker 1: Yahoo during its period of terminal client jumping ship to 549 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:05,080 Speaker 1: Google in twenty twelve. In twenty nineteen, Ragavan used this 550 00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:07,520 Speaker 1: political influence to push out the head of Search, a 551 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,520 Speaker 1: guy called Ben Gomes. A hero, a hero who fought 552 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,360 Speaker 1: to protect Search from a man trying to turn it 553 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 1: into a growth machine even when it was still very profitable. 554 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:21,440 Speaker 1: That's what's really crazy. While far from our household name, 555 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:25,600 Speaker 1: Ragavan is emblematic of every single thing I've written and 556 00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:30,240 Speaker 1: podcasted about. He personifies this horrifying decline and the short 557 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:33,680 Speaker 1: term thinking that's destroying the products we use every day. 558 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:37,880 Speaker 1: He and people like him are destroying companies that we 559 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:42,000 Speaker 1: used to respect. And as I'll explain, Ragavan's influence times 560 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:45,960 Speaker 1: exactly with the deterioration of Google Search as a product. 561 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:49,200 Speaker 1: After that, we're going to look at the managerial class 562 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:52,960 Speaker 1: more broadly and how some people, such as Instagram's Adamisari 563 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: and of course open Ai CEO Sam Altman, have been 564 00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:58,960 Speaker 1: able to disguise their true intent and ineptitude through the 565 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:03,440 Speaker 1: clothing of innovation disruption. It's a facade, one that doesn't 566 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:06,960 Speaker 1: withstand even the slightest bit of scrutiny, and I can't 567 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:19,000 Speaker 1: wait to tell you all about it. Thank you for 568 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:21,720 Speaker 1: listening to Better Offline. The editor and composer of the 569 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,840 Speaker 1: Better Offline theme song is Matasowski. You can check out 570 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:27,840 Speaker 1: more of his music and audio projects at Matasowski dot 571 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:31,560 Speaker 1: com M A T T O S O W s 572 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:34,760 Speaker 1: KI dot com. You can email me at easy at 573 00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:37,440 Speaker 1: better offline dot com or check out better offline dot 574 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:40,080 Speaker 1: com to find my newsletter and more links to this podcast. 575 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:43,760 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. Better Offline is a 576 00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:46,640 Speaker 1: production of cool Zone Media. For more from cool Zone Media, 577 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:50,120 Speaker 1: visit our website cool Zonemedia dot com, or check us 578 00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:53,080 Speaker 1: out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 579 00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:54,000 Speaker 1: get your podcasts.