The irony is those ads depend on keywords you've typed, pages you've visited and retargeting formulas based on websites you've visited in the past few days.

Trust me, I use it to advertise my company on Facebook.

So did you?

Well, I can sort of see how facebook can confuse me paying my credit card bill online with the idea that i might want a really shitty new one. But the Welsh IVF clinic and Facism really make no sense at all (unless Facebook has been picking up on some of the more outlandish threads here :p).

Nothing I have done on the internet has been IVF related. Nothing has been Welsh related for that matter. The closest thing to fascism has been reading the BBC's story about the anniversary of the Dambuster's raid.

Something has gone badly wrong in facebook land

+! ava -- my thoughts exactly. Octavious is getting what he wants without realizing it. Facebook is now monitoring your dreams...

did you.

Also, even if I was a life member of the Fascist Fan Club and ordered the latest addition of the Bumper Book of Bigotry every Christmas, Facebook have no place taking advertising money off bloody fascists. Don't they even check who they're doing business with?

"Facebook is now monitoring your dreams... "

Nope. There are neither ads for Lexa Doig nor lashings of maple syrup

Fascebook

Today's Facebook ads really want to help me generate new patients for my veterinary practice, which would be wonderful if I were a veterinarian. Do I really spend *that* much time looking watching cute dog tricks on youtube?

Looking at my computer's history there are two possible things that may be vaguely (if you squint a bit) fascist related.

1/ A google search for the caucuses after the Boston bombings...
It's a bit weak, but Causcuses... Caucasians... almost a link to Nazis...

2/ A search today for "US nationalist definition" because of that steephie thread and an interest to see if it meant something different in Yankyland than the UK.

That should not be enough reason to send me adverts for Fascism

THERE SHOULD BE NO SUCH THING as adverts for fascism on Facebook!

Facebook is no respector of advertisers. The KKK, the skinheads, fascists... They don't give a fuck. And the keywords searched and websites visited list is set by the advertiser. So looking at porn may trigger a church group ad trying to get you "saved".

In other words, searching for capitalism or possibly going to a lot of commercial product sites could trigger the fascism ads.

@ Draug

That sort of thing is fine in the US with your freedom of speech obsession, but in other parts of the civalised world the trend is for public outcry followed by boycotte. Facebook are playing with fire

You are also assuming that facebook targetted you, as opposed to the Fascists being the ones who said to Facebook, "THIS is the profile fo the person we want to target". You have to understand how facebook ALLOWS the advertiser to advertise.

i.e. for some reason, the Fascists have created a demographic profile that says you are in a group likely to convert. I'll explain in more detail if you give me your name, age, sex, income level, last 4 of your social security number, etc.

@ krellin

I really don't care that much what buzz words the Fascists are using to target their marketing. It is much more the fact that they are advertising on Facebook in the first place. FACEBOOK and NAZIS are doing business TOGETHER. This is what I am angry about.

Yeah, but a boycotte of facebook, a free service to the end user, is not a serious threat to them. The only way a boycotte of that nature works is if a large enough share of their free users choose to actually close their accounts completely. Otherwise they still tell their advertisers that they have 'X' accounts on their servers.

Complain to facebook then.

@ Draug

It really is. Without Facebook makes money by selling it's members to companies that want to sell stuff. Same model as TV stations. Cut the viewing figures, or cut the number of members, and their revenue stream suffers.

When Facebook were happy in their monopoly they didn't really fear a boycott, but that monopoly is ending. In the developed East Facebook usage is plummeting and being replaced by a new wave of alternatives. It will happen in the West soon enough if they're not damned careful.

@ Oct -- Perhaps you don't understand the concept of "freedom". It still (barely) means in America that, as long as you are not infringing on someone else's rights, you can believe in and talk about stupid things.

I'm less concerned with Fascists advertising than I am with thoguht police - in this case you - suggesting they have no right to state their opinion, or that Facebook can't allow them to advertise.

Speaking of which - no human being at Facebook "took" that ad and placed it - it was all done electronically and passed through automated filters to disallowed words...purely an electronic transaction. You can't block the word "fascism" from advertising electronically, or you will block groups fighting against fascism from advertising.

If you really want to hurt the fascists, you click though their link, thus costing them a per-click fee and draining their advertising budget. Boycotts are ridiculous in this situation.

Octavious, I found the perfect forum for you to air your frustrations: viewthread=1008731

@ krellin

I have often found the American concept of freedom, in which organisations such as the KKK operate freely but if you dare to sell a large fizzy drink or light a fag and the cops will be all over you, to be rather tricky to understand, I admit.

@Oct - Sure, but the threat isn't real *to facebook management*. They justr eport total accounts to their potential acvertisers. Unless the boycott was to remove *all* the accounts and was significant in percentage (like 35% or more) it wouldn't be a big deal. And as long as the advertisers ads work, they don't care that facebook alos allows baby rapers to advertise on the site.

Remember, perception *is* reality. And the advertisers marketing teams perceive facebook to be a good buy. The facebook execs perceive any boycott threat to be nominal. This means that operate on the principle that their perceptions are correct.

" in which organisations such as the KKK operate freely but if you dare to sell a large fizzy drink or light a fag and the cops will be all over you"

Who's version of American freedom are you talking about? You are speaking of the new American fascism, my friend, not freedom...I don't believe telling me how much I can drink or what I can smoke is freedom, and a good number of Americans are fighting against such notions. They are people like the Libertarians and the Tea Party groups...a few members of the Republican party (a dwindling number, sadly...) But you are *sadly* mistaken if you think the old-fashion notion of American freedom incorporates government-enforced dietary restrictions. That is coming from jackasses like Obama and his Liberal lapdogs, whom freedom-loving people have been crying out against for a long time.

@ Draug

The reality is that Facebook have been upsetting vast numbers of their members for a multitude of reasons for quite some time. They have got away with it because they have been the only player for some years. That is coming to an end, and their lack of good will will bite them in the arse pretty damned hard in the near future.

I dare say the facebook execs are already rather nervous. Facebook shareholders should get out whilest the getting is good.

I must support Octavious' point that this indicates that FB has not checked its clients rigorously enough.

Yay! Cheers, red. Extra brownie points for you!

@Octavious "Facebook have been upsetting vast numbers of their members for a multitude of reasons for quite some time."

Not hardly. the vast number of their users are children and women, who have no clue what facebook is doing that they should be mad about. Tech savy people take issue with Facebook...and use it anyway.

Your personal outrage against facebook *far* exceeds the reality of the public feelings towards same.