You might also be aware that all this is delivered by means of “persuasive design”—an umbrella term for an armory of psychological techniques borrowed directly from the designers of casino slot machines, for the express purpose of encouraging compulsive behavior. One example among hundreds is the ubiquitous drag-down-to-refresh gesture, which keeps... See more

Audience buying is cloaked in opacity – the major platforms are deeply invested in making sure no one truly understands how attention is priced. That means a media company buying audience on Facebook or Google will always be at an informational disadvantage – exposing them to a new kind of arbitrage, one executed by the platform’s own algorithms... See more

Alongside rising CACs, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) changes have dealt a blow to digital advertising. ATT is Apple’s opt-in privacy framework that requires all iOS apps to ask users for permission to share their data. Spoiler alert: many people do not opt in. Meta estimates that it will lose $10 billion in ad sales revenue (about 8% of... See more