I think this line of reasoning is victim blaming. It’s not the author’s fault that Instagram works the way it works. I think she’s entitled to want them to do a better job.
I don't disagree that this type of advertising is unsavory, but I do think it is a bit simplistic to call people like the author victims of evil oppressive Instagram and call it a day.
I notice that in today's society people make an awful lot of demands on the services and apps they use, while not directly paying for hardly any of what they consume.
Facebook/Instagram definitely has a lot more power than any individual user, but it doesn't have more power than all of its users. If people were offended enough to actually walk away from the platform en masse, I bet we would see substantial reform pretty quickly.
The "if you don't like it, leave" argument is cruel when applied to cities, countries, or essential services, but I think it is pretty fair when we are talking about totally superfluous apps that don't even cost anything.
She's consuming free computing resources in exchange for the implied social contract of having ads presented to her. If she doesn't like that, she has to find a way to subvert that contract or stop using free services. She'd have more of a leg to stand on if she was a customer of Instagram.
I notice that in today's society people make an awful lot of demands on the services and apps they use, while not directly paying for hardly any of what they consume.
Facebook/Instagram definitely has a lot more power than any individual user, but it doesn't have more power than all of its users. If people were offended enough to actually walk away from the platform en masse, I bet we would see substantial reform pretty quickly.
The "if you don't like it, leave" argument is cruel when applied to cities, countries, or essential services, but I think it is pretty fair when we are talking about totally superfluous apps that don't even cost anything.