On that REI Facebook Ad

Quick summary of what actually happened from Tom DeVries on LinkedIn:

Meta auto-enrolled REI into an AI ad program, altered a real vendor photo, and ran it for nearly a week without REI knowing.
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The program is called Advantage+ Creative. Opting out requires navigating three separate settings panels. And there are reports of it re-enabling after you turn it off.
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 It seems like Meta no longer values having the trust of their customers. This is exactly the kind of action that destroys it. It’s quite sad.

I don’t jump up here to defend REI, big companies are responsible for the programs they are participating. Of course they got duped by META, but in the end someone somewhere in the organization didn’t care.

Also, and somewhat related, here’s John Gruber running a post titled: ‘Why is Meta Destroying its Engineering Organization?’. This AI shit is really doing a number on these people, Jebus.

I’m so glad so many of our businesses are relying on tools like WhatsApp and Instagram to market, communicate and promote their products… what a fun time to be alive.