this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
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This is tinfoil hat stuff, but based on the ads I’m shown, it’s almost like they pick ones they know won’t appeal to you since they know anger drives up engagement. Google can probably guess from my search history that I’m trans and asexual, since I’ve asked questions online relating to that. And then the majority of the ads I get on YouTube are porn and anti trans things.
Anger does drive up engagement, but the point of engagement farming is supposed to be so that you keep coming back to the content (YT videos, articles, whatever) and therefore it gets more exposure so that the attached ads get more exposure.
The ads themselves designed to make you angry at them doesn't seem to make sense, at least as a default practice. There's really only hyperspecific niche scenarios where the ad itself making you angry at the ad is beneficial to the people paying for it.
If they actually wanted to show ads targeted to me, first thing they would figure out is if I'm capable of buying their stupid bullshit product. I'm poor as the rat in the church, my monthly budget is literally -50€. I can't afford to buy anything, what good does it do for advertisers to let me know that they have a new phone that costs 1500€ and is 0,05mm thinner than the previous one?