[heavenlyblue]

I think the actual problem isn’t the idiot (the issue isn’t that different from having access to a printing press a few years ago - in order to reach a considerable audience in both cases you would need a good amount of capital in the first place), the problem is the fact that it’s hard to tell for ad consumers if these ads are right or wrong, these ads are also shown inline with the usual flow of information they accept as true and that the users are rarely informed about how well targeted these ads are.

[wutbrodo]

> these ads are also shown inline with the usual flow of information they accept as true

Accepting this flow of information as true does indeed seem like idiocy

[heavenlyblue]

But misinformation in advertisements is illegal in many countries and so is misrepresenting information as actual information rather than it being ads.

[wutbrodo]

Provable misinformation is legal, which is a much higher bar. That's why we'd consider it insane if someone took (legal) ads at face value and believed all their claims.