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Cancer Patient Complains: My Facebook Feed Is Full of 'Alternative Care' Ads (nytimes.com) 207

Posted by EditorDavid from the fake-medical-news dept.
The author of an opinion piece in the New York Times describes what happened after sharing their cancer diagnosis on Facebook: Since then, my Facebook feed has featured ads for "alternative cancer care." The ads, which were new to my timeline, promote everything from cumin seeds to colloidal silver as cancer treatments. Some ads promise luxury clinics — or even "nontoxic cancer therapies" on a beach in Mexico.

There's a reason I'll never fall for these ads: I'm an advocate against pseudoscience. As a consultant for the watchdog group Bad Science Watch and the founder of the Campaign Against Phony Autism Cures, I've learned to recognize the hallmarks of pseudoscience marketing: unproven and sometimes dangerous treatments, promising simplistic solutions and support. Things like "bleach cures" that promise to treat everything from Covid-19 to autism.

When I saw the ads, I knew that Facebook had probably tagged me to receive them. Interestingly, I haven't seen any legitimate cancer care ads in my newsfeed, just pseudoscience. This may be because pseudoscience companies rely on social media in a way that other forms of health care don't. Pseudoscience companies leverage Facebook's social and supportive environment to connect their products with identities and to build communities around their products. They use influencers and patient testimonials. Some companies also recruit members through Facebook "support groups" to sell their products in pyramid schemes...

It was only last April that Facebook removed "pseudoscience" as a keyword from its categories for targeted advertising, and only after the tech publication The Markup reported that 78 million users were listed in Facebook's ad portal as having an "interest" in the category... Facebook pledged that it would add a warning label to Covid-19-related ads and would remove pseudoscience ads that were reported by its users. The problem, which even Facebook acknowledged, is that pseudoscience content can run for months before being flagged by readers. Facebook's main ad-screening system is automated. While we wait for its artificial intelligence system to catch up with the discernment abilities of human reviewers, a steady flow of pseudoscience advertising has already slipped through on a platform with billions of users.

Could it be that Facebook has gotten too big to adequately regulate its content?
The article also suggests one way that individuals can join a movement to pressure Facebook to change: "suspend, delete or even just spend less time on Facebook (and on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook)."

"My retreat from Facebook may mean fewer online connections, perhaps at a time when I need them the most. But I'd rather leave than see what another friend with cancer calls the 'slap in the face' ads."
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Cancer Patient Complains: My Facebook Feed Is Full of 'Alternative Care' Ads More

Cancer Patient Complains: My Facebook Feed Is Full of 'Alternative Care' Ads

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  • Quit Facebook (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dmay34 ( 6770232 ) on Sunday July 12, 2020 @05:51PM (#60291330)
    If you are still on facebook you are a fool. It's a drug. They know how to lock your brain in and get you hooked. Quit it. You know you should. Delete your account and quit.
    • with similar interests and networking with them. I'm an introvert so it's not much of an issue for me, but I know a lot of extroverts who live by Facebook. It helps them find friends, which as you age gets harder and harder to do.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by dmay34 ( 6770232 )
        Making friends as you get older is not harder to do. You just have to look for friends in different places than you did when you were in college. Join an IRL organization. Get involved. Any organization. Pick one.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by rtb61 ( 674572 )

          You seem to have missed the introvert bit. You notice they desperate clinginess in other isolated elderly extroverts, you feel for them, even when you don't want to be with them. As an introvert, being elderly means, ample opportunity to be left alone with your idly bored pleasant thoughts and in the internet age, the ability to idly express them.

          As those Facebook ads are targeted by Facebook at the person Facebook seeks to psychologically manipulated, Facebook should be held fully legally liable for the co

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      What about /.? I have been addicted to it since the late 90s. ;)

      • While there are some diseases mentioned on /., these are articles or just swearing. Nothing personal. I don't know what the ads do, 'cause I never see them.

    • Facebook is Cancer.
      Get alternative communication.

    • Re:Quit Facebook (Score:4, Interesting)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Monday July 13, 2020 @03:48AM (#60292588) Homepage Journal

      My aunt has cancer. Can't go out or have friends over because the treatment has trashed her immune system. She talks to people she knew at school and found again through Facebook. Despite Facebook being generally awful I'm glad that she has it now.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      Same applies to any social media that allows any kind of a reinforcement "upvoting" "liking" etc mechanism.

      Including slashdot.

      So dear kettle. This is pot. You're black too. BLM.

  • Easy cure (Score:4, Insightful)

    by barrywalker ( 1855110 ) on Sunday July 12, 2020 @05:52PM (#60291336)
    Get. The. Fuck. Off. Facebook.

    • but.. but.. That would mean I would have to first get on it..

      No thanks.

    • Facebook Is Cancer.

    • Look at it another way. We have free speech in the US (I know, Facebook isn't limited to the US, but we do have a lot of slashdot readers who can't imagine a world outside that bubble). What we don't have is unlimited speech with no restrictions. What we have here is a clear case of speech that is harmful, and it makes sense to put strong legal regulations against it. But it is both very difficult to try to control this, legall, and difficult to convince the public that free speech is not unlimited.

      We'v

  • Stop using Facebook, problem solved (Score:4, Insightful)

    by misnohmer ( 1636461 ) on Sunday July 12, 2020 @05:56PM (#60291354)

    This is not a government provided, tax funded, required-to-use service. It's a private company which provides you free service. Don't like it, don't use it. Nobody is holding a gun to anyone's head to use FB, and especially to provide FB with private medical information like cancer diagnosis.

    Full disclosure, I never had a FB account, nor even plan to get one. But I also don't judge people who choose to give their private information to FB and be exposed to FB's "society mind shaping". Welcome to free will (for now).

    • Re:Stop using Facebook, problem solved (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Vermonter ( 2683811 ) on Sunday July 12, 2020 @06:16PM (#60291424)

      Facebook is designed in such a way that after using it for a while, it feels like there is a gun to your head keeping you there, in the form of FOMO.

      • I literally can't relate. For the past few years or so I'd mostly go on just to like photos family members posted. But nowadays even that is too much work and I just go on to chat with friends/family. I think the last time I signed on was around July 4th. I really don't get the point of it anymore. It's too much work to keep up with it all.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by marcle ( 1575627 )

        I see this is true of my wife and daughter, and just about all of their friends. It doesn't attract me, but then I'm an introvert anyway. But for them, the FOMO is strong. It's not just a corporation or an app, it's a platform, and all that that implies. Zuck understands that well and does his best to leverage it.

        • Re:Stop using Facebook, problem solved (Score:5, Insightful)

          by sound+vision ( 884283 ) on Sunday July 12, 2020 @10:54PM (#60292084) Journal

          It's not just Zuckercluck pushing it either. I've been seeing commercials on TV lately from some phone company pushing data plans and smartphones (preloaded with FB of course)... Two old neighbors pass eachother in the park while walking their dogs. One of them is plugged into the Matrix and happy as all hell: "I send my kids 3 pictures of the dog every day." The other one reveals she's not plugged in, and a concerned look comes over the first one's face. Pity, mixed with a bit of surprise. "Oh." Then, "My kids don't even know I have a dog."

          They're really pulling out all the stops. You'd better jack in if you want a relationship with your family! Do you hate your kids or something?

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Well, let's call it digital natural selection. Those who survive Facebook will be stronger for it, making human gene pool stronger.

      • I missed that memo. What's FOMO?

    • Indeed, I would never have a real FB account either as it is just stupid. But because of a few things I have had temporary random name accounts to register for things that ignorant people put up and such..

      But I definitely agree on your point that following steps are kind of self evident.
      1)Have a platform that is specially inviting to people who do not think for themselves.
      2) Give personal info to and advertising company voluntarily through that platform.
      3)Have that advertising company then categorize that

    • Re:Stop using Facebook, problem solved (Score:5, Insightful)

      by wickerprints ( 1094741 ) on Sunday July 12, 2020 @07:25PM (#60291628)

      The problem is that the information they give to Facebook includes non-users' personal information, such as their names, contact information, address, dates of birth, etc. The only way to protect my information from being used to connect the different people I know in my life is to not give them my personal information at all. That's not feasible unless I want to have zero friends. They blindly upload their address books.

      And then let's talk about their trackers. Every fucking website has a Facebook tracker on it these days. Yes, there are ways of blocking these, but this whole "just don't use Facebook" attitude is simplistic. I can't go into my work computer and prevent those trackers from loading on work-related websites. It's maddening how deep their reach is. Not having an account is just the bare minimum of what one must do to avoid having them track you, and most of what they get comes from your idiot friends who don't care. I've tried patiently and calmly educating, explaining...it all falls on deaf ears because they are addicted. It's like trying to explain to a meth or heroin user why their addiction is bad. They know, but they can't stop themselves from enriching bowl-cut Zuck's pockets so he can buy another Hawaiian island with all the dirty money he gets.

      • ..and most of what they get comes from your idiot friends who don't care. I've tried patiently and calmly educating, explaining...it all falls on deaf ears ...

        This is exactly why we have no hope of stopping COVID

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • You cannot stop FB from collecting information about you, however if you don't have an account with them, you don't need to worry about FB showing you ads, right? If you go to FB voluntarily, what are you doing complaining about seeing their ads?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jma05 ( 897351 )

      > especially to provide FB with private medical information like cancer diagnosis.

      Never used FB. But from I heard, you don't actively provide it with private medical information. It figures out such stuff from your FB messaging and by tracking browsing activity through Facebook share buttons everywhere.

  • Facebook = National Enquirer (Score:3)

    by RhettLivingston ( 544140 ) on Sunday July 12, 2020 @06:17PM (#60291430) Journal
    I don't expect anymore integrity in Facebook ads than I would expect if I picked up a copy of The National Enquirer or any other similar publication. Facebook is just a modern gossip rag.

  • When desperation rules the roost (Score:4, Informative)

    by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Sunday July 12, 2020 @06:24PM (#60291448) Journal

    It's not that surprising. Desperate people have always been the most likely marks for pseudoscience.

    There's not much need for legitimate medical facilities heralding treatments confirmed to work in respectable trials to advertise in such mediums... people doing good work in any vocation have the least need to advertise their wares, particularly in places of ill repute.

    • That, and the person claimed he was an "advocate against pseudoscience." Now, that could mean many things, but it probably includes viewing and responding to various quackery themed pages. Facebook's algorithms has detected he is interested in those keywords and so when people pay for ads, he sees them. He could just update his Ad preferences and Interests, but as an Advocate he'd rather bitch about it loudly.

      • He could just update his Ad preferences and Interests

        Fb would just change them back periodically.

  • when they said they do not rummage through all your information for stuff to sell.

    Just my 2 cents ;)

    • Just my 2 cents ;)

      Why do people post this? The whole of the internet is just someone's 2 cents.

      • More than that. Back in the day, if you posted to Usenet, you might get a warning like, "Are you sure this is worth it? It will cost hundreds of dollars copying around the world."

  • "My retreat from Facebook may mean fewer online connections, perhaps at a time when I need them the most..."

    If only there was an alternate way to communicate with people via the internet that was platform-agnostic and not directly controlled by a single corporation...

    • Re:The World Outside Facebook. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by aaarrrgggh ( 9205 ) on Sunday July 12, 2020 @07:07PM (#60291586)

      I have been conducting a little experiment by writing emails to people I have lost contact with. It doesn’t seem to be too effective with people that spend most of their social time on FB.

      Oh well... maybe there was a reason I lost contact with them in the first place...

      • I have been reverting to snail mail with postage stamps. Remember those? Its amazing, you actually find out who your *real* friends are, and your writing skills improve simultaneously.

  • Not the wholesome alternative miracle cures!

    Go fuck off and play with something poisonous like your colloidal silver you snakeoil peddlers!

    • the most recent Coronavirus drug was developed with public funds and will be sold back to Americans at $3,000 a pop. And I know cancer specialists who've had to leave America for Europe to get their research funded because curing cancer (especially childhood cancers) isn't profitable enough.

  • ...into your FB feed in the first place? When I hit FB, I have the F.B. Purity plug-in blocking ads so I don't have to even see 'em. (It allows one to block a lot of other stuff as well.) I find it jarring to look over someone's shoulder while they're on FB and notice all the ads -- and other crap -- that's spewed into a person's feed. That said, I'm looking forward to the day when I nail a sign up on my FB page letting friends know where they can find me from that point on.

  • In your computer: just install uBloc origin (and the relvant language packs if you are not an anglophone) + Privacy badger + Tracking Token Stripper + Facebook container.

    In your android phone: do exactly the same, and instead of using the facebgook app, go to https://touch.facebook.com/ [facebook.com] using your browser (the one with the four extensions installed).

    Also, facebook has a Messenger Lite app, that way, you can still connect to people (for emotional support during these trying times) without those pesky Ads. Ke

  • Or... (Score:3)

    by Berkyjay ( 1225604 ) on Sunday July 12, 2020 @07:38PM (#60291668)

    Just use Ad Blockers.

  • I don't understand (Score:3)

    by stabiesoft ( 733417 ) on Sunday July 12, 2020 @07:42PM (#60291686) Homepage
    The final comment "My retreat from Facebook may mean fewer online connections, perhaps at a time when I need them the most. But I'd rather leave than see what another friend with cancer calls the 'slap in the face' ads."

    In today's cellphone world where people are almost always a phone call away, how can dumping FB leave you unconnected? Yes you will not see your niece/nephew post what they had for breakfast, but you could talk to them. How did people do it with landlines? As a kid we had one landline phone, and somehow we did not become unhinged. People called in the evening and hoped you were home. Heck I grew up pre-answering machine so if no one was home, you had to try again later. Try calling and actually having a conversation.

  • Quitting isn't easy (Score:4, Interesting)

    by alleycat0 ( 232486 ) on Sunday July 12, 2020 @08:10PM (#60291748) Homepage
    Getting off of FaceBook might be the right choice for you, but it probably won't be easy, despite what the "it's a drug - just get the F off" crowd is chanting. I quit over a year ago, and it's been problematic. My family uses it as their primary means of communication. My far-flung friends are more wont to use FB than to call or email anymore. There are wonderful academic discussion groups I'd love to be part of. In the end, I have no regrets - I was sick of how many times FB lied to me and how many times they abused my personal information. Let's not pretend that this type of social media isolation is easy - but it's certainly worth considering.

    • No. It IS easy. Message everyone you want to keep in contact with and request how they would like you to contact them.
      Then contact them that way. The ones that don't respond were never your friends anyway.

      Saying it is difficult is bullshit. It isn't.

  • The first mistake was using Facebook. The second mistake was putting your cancer diagnosis on there.

  • life is hard (Score:3)

    by swell ( 195815 ) <jabberwock@poetic.com> on Sunday July 12, 2020 @08:42PM (#60291812)

    Hi Anne Borden. You get cancer and rightfully expect some sympathy, but all you get is scammers who want to feed off your desperation.

    I'm in a similar situation, Anne. I'm old. I don't use FB or other antisocial media, but I'm with AARP and the AARP people want me to buy their insurance and many other products. Frequent AARP publications promote many businesses that feed off old people, many of whom are desperate just like you. Like commercial sites, the AARP site will spy on users heavily. They will ask you to participate in surveys which are really just more spyware. It's a huge scam!

    But in the end, it is just advertising as it has existed for hundreds of years. It's rumored that King Arthur fell for a deceptive ad for condoms 'so sturdy they can last for months'. [Or did I just make that up?] Most humans have inherited a genetic trait that protects them from such advertising.

    One difference is that I actually PAY AARP. And they promote themselves as being protectors of senior citizens. I don't believe that Facebook makes any claim to protect users from anything. I stick with AARP in hope that they may influence government not to mess with the old, disabled or those in need of Obamacare. I'm not sure why you stick with Facebook.

    Perhaps you are lonely, afraid, bored or addicted to FB. When I feel that way, it's always because I'm sitting around feeling sorry for myself. As soon as I start moving and doing something useful, maybe something helpful to others, I feel better. The compulsion to turn to Facebook must be powerful, but that energy can be directed into more positive activity.

  • My experience was quite different (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Applehu Akbar ( 2968043 ) on Sunday July 12, 2020 @08:47PM (#60291824)

    I was diagnosed right after Christmas last year. By the time my scheduled radiation got started, we were all living in the strange twilight world of lockdown. But cancer doesn't wait for any virus, so they kept the onco center, which is fortunately a separate campus from the hospital, open for myself and a small group of other patients. My town is normally teeming with tourists in early spring, but every morning I would drive in through an empty town that now looked like one of AMC's zombie sets.

    Unlike this author, I didn't tell anyone on social media about my condition. But I know what he means: right now I'm arguing with antivax cranks on Nextdoor.Right now is the time of all times not to be spreading that crap.

  • Hold advertising platforms and the content providers that use them strictly liable [wikipedia.org]. It isn't a free speech issue (for jurisdictions that care about that). I include "journalists" and influencers that provide fawning coverage of goods and services.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Adblocker

  • I searched on line for a vacation. I spent some time looking at Club Med and Sandals. I didn't go there, but the mere search made a banner ad from Club Med (a woman in a very large white hat) come up...on EVERY SINGLE website for about a month. It was almost funny how Hat Lady followed me all over the internet, no matter what sites I went to. She taught me a lot...about cookies, adblockers, and how to practice safer sex on the internet....again, this was 15 years ago. I'm amazed when Ghostery shows me

    • Some porno publisher has been sending me monthly snail mail ads with color brochures for 25 years, tracking me across half a dozen moves. I have no idea why they are so persistant. My only solace is knowing they've easily lost hundreds of dollars doing it.

  • Could it be that Facebook has gotten too big to adequately regulate its content?

    It's a gigantic social network that claims to let anybody post almost anything. It also accepts tons of advertising via automated tools.

    What exactly were you expecting?

  • Well, that's a surprise (Score:3)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Monday July 13, 2020 @01:13AM (#60292286)

    You're sharing your fucking medical problems with a social media platform whose sole purpose is to resell your personal information to advertisers... And then you're surprised to get ads?

  • ... is to break up Facebook (and Apple and Amazon and Google) into smaller, easier to regulate companies.
  • I have known Facebook is bad for your health; I have not known it is so literal.

  • Sigh. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ledow ( 319597 ) on Monday July 13, 2020 @02:31AM (#60292428) Homepage

    Welcome to the US.

    Because in civilised countries, not only is it illegal to promote any kind of claimed "cure" or treatment for cancer, even regulated medicine is not allowed to advertise to non-medical people.

    It's a literal category of banned advertising, in both respected.

    https://www.legislation.gov.uk... [legislation.gov.uk]

    (1)No person shall take any part in the publication of any advertisementâ"
    (a)containing an offer to treat any person for cancer, or to prescribe any remedy therefor, or to give any advice in connection with the treatment thereof;

    Also:

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ad... [www.gov.uk].

    When you choose profit over science, this is what happens.

  • Why would you expect anything else?

  • Just continue to educate everyone you can that if a product or service is advertised online it IS a scam. Not May be a scam. Is.

    You will be right the vast majority of the time.

  • You're the product, NOT the client.

  • The very first word of the headline clearly shows us the complainer is seriously confused. You don't own Facebook. You don't own "your" feed. Facebook owns you and sells you to their customers (advertisers).

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