Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: Meta makes billions from scam ads, clipping dominates creator marketing + Emilycc 4-year livestream

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MINI TECH SCROLL: Meta makes billions from scam ads, clipping dominates creator marketing + Emilycc 4-year livestream · Mini Scroll

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  Hey everyone and welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
• 0:03
  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy, and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
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  My name is Annabelle and I'm your Wednesday Mini Tech Scroll
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  host and also the deputy editor of the youth digital media brand
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  Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Tech
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  Scroll. I have two things to say before
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  we get into this episode. The 1st is that I am aware that
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  I completely match the background today.
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  That was not intentional, but like loving it I guess.
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  And the second thing I have to say is that today is the first
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  day that Lauren is ever in the room when I am recording the
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  episode. She's currently doing her
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  makeup. So if you hear any noises, that
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  is probably what it is. Or it could also be the fact
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  that Pump or Pumpkin Lauren's dog is in the office with us
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  today. So a little bit more of a
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  disruptive environment, but we love it.
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  It's fun. OK, before we get into the
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  content, Please remember to rate, review and subscribe and
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  star rate US on Spotify. We are really trying to get to
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  1000 star ratings. We also have a buy me a coffee
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  link in the description if you want to check that out.
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  But yes, let's get right into the stories for today.
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  The first story for today is how leaked internal documents from
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  Meta found that the company is making billions of dollars from
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  scams and fraudulent ads. So Reuters recently issued a
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  report after reviewing a collection of unreported
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  documents showing that Mehta has failed to identify and stop
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  fraudulent ads. And this ranges across
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  e-commerce, investment opportunities, illegal gambling
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  and more. And this has been going on for
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  at least three years. In the documents, the news
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  agency found that there is an estimated 15 billion higher risk
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  scams floating across Mehta's platform everyday.
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  In this context, higher risk quite literally means that they
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  look like a scam. As Jeff Horowitz for Reuters
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  reports quote, Meta earns about 7 billion in annualized revenue
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  from this category of scam ads each year.
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  Something particularly egregious from the story was how Meta uses
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  these ads that the company basically knows a scams to make
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  money. Basically, the tech giant only
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  bans ads if its systems are 95% sure that they are committing
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  fraud. If there is reasonable belief
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  that the ads are in fact fraudulent, but it doesn't quite
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  meet that threshold, Meta ends up charging higher ad rates to
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  these companies. And while this is meant to stop
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  advertisers from placing ads on the platforms, it clearly also
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  makes the company more money. So there really is no incentive
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  for Meta to stop doing this. And only making things worse is
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  that the documents show that when a user clicks on a scam,
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  they're actually more likely to see more fraudulent content
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  because of the way Meta's ad algorithm works, where it's
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  obviously trying to match the ad it shows to a user with their
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  interests. And what's unfortunate is that I
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  think this would obviously disproportionately affect all
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  the users on these platforms. And when these users do report
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  something as a scam, it also seems like nothing really gets
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  done. According to this report, one
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  example that the journalist listed was that safety employees
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  estimated that users across Facebook and Instagram were
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  filing around 100,000 valid reports of fraud, but Meta
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  ultimately ignored or incorrectly rejected 96% of
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  them. And that was in 2023.
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  I should also add here that Reuters did reach out to Meta
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  for comment as the report reads quote in a statement.
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  Meta spokesperson person Andy Stone said that the document
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  seen by Reuters present a selective view that distorts
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  Meadows approach to fraud and scams.
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  The company's internal estimate that it would earn 10.1% of its
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  2024 revenue from scams and other prohibited ads was rough
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  and overly inclusive, Stone said.
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  The company had later determined that the true number was lower
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  because the estimate included many legitimate ads as well.
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  I do just want to say here that 10% is like $16 billion.
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  So clearly that is a lot of money they're breaking in.
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  And also in this statement, Andy Stone did not say a revised
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  amount. And obviously that has raised
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  some eyebrows. Now, you're probably thinking as
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  I'm running through these findings, how Meta can be
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  stopped or at least disincentivized to be allowing
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  these fraudulent ads to be distributed across the platform.
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  And obviously, I've already noted that there is very little
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  incentive. And it gets worse because
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  according to the documents, Meta compared the cost of the illicit
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  revenue stream to being fined by governments for allowing these
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  ads to go through. And the reporting notes that the
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  fines would be smaller than Meta's revenue from scam ads.
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  So clearly there is very little reason to stop doing this.
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  And it also points out that in the alleged attempts to limit
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  scams moving forward, one of the strategies mentioned by Meta was
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  penalty bids, where basically marketers or companies who
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  seemed like they were committing fraud would have to engage in an
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  online auction so they could continue to advertise.
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  And once again, this is just another way for Meta to make
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  more money. All in all, this whole story is
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  just so cast and I feel like it just is another example of how
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  little these big tech companies actually care about their users
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  and it's all about making money, growth and engagement.
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  I was actually listening to the There Are No Girls on the
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  Internet podcast about this topic earlier this week, and
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  they made a really good point about how even if Meta says that
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  they've taken down the ads and there are less and less scams on
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  the platform, there is actually so little ways for us to be able
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  to check if that is even true, especially after major platforms
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  ended their API access. We're really just living in an
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  era of no transparency. But I'll insert a clip from that
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  conversation now so you can hear for yourself.
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  This actually highlights another issue.
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  If you recall, I guess it was a couple years ago now, all the
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  big platforms ended their API access for researchers, right?
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  Like it used to be that researchers could use the APIs
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  of social media platforms like Facebook, like threads, like
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  Twitter to just observe what was going on, what is was going on
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  on these platforms. And all the companies ended that
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  access. Some of them like Twitter, I
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  think you can pay absorbent fees to gain some API access, which
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  puts it out of the reach of most researchers.
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  And one of the big consequences of that is that we are, we find
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  ourselves in a moment like this where we just have to take their
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  word for it, right? There's no practical way for
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  people outside of the company to evaluate any of these claims.
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  Okay, that brings us to our next story for today.
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  And this is a little bit more of a trend slash discussion online
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  that I've seen circulating, and it's all about clipping content.
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  I was actually inspired to cover this piece from Bloomberg, where
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  they ran a story at the end of last month about the importance
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  of clipping on social media and how it's become such an integral
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  part of our digital landscape. And that might seem obvious if
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  you spend a lot of time online, but I feel like not enough
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  people talk about it from a more strategic lens.
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  The piece from Bloomberg points to Mr. Beast as an example.
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  For a recent campaign, Mr. Beast paid quote independent editors
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  employed by a startup called, clipping $50.00 for every
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  100,000 views that snippets of his YouTube shows got on social
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  media apps. According to a post on Discord,
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  these contractors identified A viral moment, embellish it with
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  a funny slogan and feed it into services like TikTok and
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  Instagram. Anthony Fujiwara is the 23 year
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  old founder of the startup and contends that producing clips is
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  equivalent to buying commercials on TV or Billboard back in the
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  day. It's now about buying time on
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  people's algorithms, which is especially difficult when young
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  people don't necessarily respond to ADS in the same way that
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  their predecessors did. So using clips as a form of
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  marketing is just a much more natural way to integrate into
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  the platform. As the journalist explains
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  quote, the emergence of clipping shows just how much social media
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  has changed since the early days as a platform for user generated
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  content. Videos that once seemed unusual
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  or spontaneous and became instant topics of chitchat have
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  given way to orchestrated marketing efforts.
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  These advertising videos pop up in your social media feed and
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  look like they could be from any random super fan.
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  That comment really goes to show how the line has been completely
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  blurred between authentic content and strategic content,
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  where the most successful marketing now is
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  indistinguishable from fandoms or casual posting.
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  But more on that in a little bit.
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  Speaking of Mr. B, So he has actually taken it one step
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  further and launched his own clipping platform called Viro,
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  which was about one month ago now.
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  Viro is a marketplace that essentially connects editors and
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  Clippers directly with brands or creators, where users can browse
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  different campaigns and then choose one to work on and then
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  eventually upload edited clips on their own social channels.
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  I found this interesting because instead of paying for reach
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  through like established creators or brands, now these
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  campaigns can tap into a network of micro creators or just
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  editors who are really skilled at capturing viral moments that
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  will perform well. And I do think this is a little
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  bit of an extension about what I reported on a couple weeks ago
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  about the rise of fan editors. If you missed that episode,
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  though, Variety recently published an article that
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  dissected Lionsgate's marketing strategy on social media, and
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  they found that Lionsgate has hired a suite of fan editors,
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  reaching out to 250 editors at first, but building a more
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  permanent cluster of 15. And these fan editors have been
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  creating clips and fan edits, obviously to promote various
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  films. And like I said, the rise of
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  clipping kind of feels like it's part of that same movement,
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  whether line between marketing, fan participation and labor and
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  creator culture are dissolving. Whether that is ethical or not,
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  I think we'll wait and see. And of course, clipping has also
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  been accelerated by the popularity of live streaming and
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  the resulting clip economy. I don't even know if that's the
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  thing, but if it's not, I just made it up has ended up turning
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  hours of content into really specific shareable click baity
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  moments. And I just think it's really
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  interesting, especially the way these opportunities are becoming
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  more participatory from social media users and viewers.
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  Speaking of live streaming through, my last story for today
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  is a short one, but I wanted to note how Emily CC has officially
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  passed the four year mark of being on live.
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  This is also a little bit more Culture E than I usually do at
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  Mini Tech Scroll, but I thought it was interesting.
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  Basically, Emily started marathon streaming back in 2021
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  and has kept her channel live ever since then.
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  However, she did initially start streaming in 2016 according to
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  what I've read about her, So she'll stream doing literally
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  everything. Super mundane things like going
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  to the grocery store or even just keeping her channel live
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  while she's asleep. In a piece for the Washington
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  Post last year, Drew Harwell spent a solid amount of time
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  with Emily and had a look into her life as he wrote quote.
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  She has broadcast and self narrated 1000 days of sleeping,
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  driving and crying, lugging her camera backpack through grocery
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  stores, talking through a screen to strangers she'll never meet.
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  And while she has definitely managed to build her own
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  community, it was a massive deal when Kaisenat ended up joining
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  her stream last year, and that moment alone ended up helping
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  her hit 10,000 subscribers on the platform.
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  On the stream, Kai was super impressed by Emily, literally
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  praising her for everything she does.
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  She's been live for three years. Whoa.
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  She's been streaming for three years.
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  Who've been live for three years.
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  I've been live for three years straight.
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  No, you're lying. I'm not lying.
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  You can look me up, it's on. I have an article, I think, for
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  the BuzzFeed. I've been #3 years, 324 seven.
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  How the fuck? Have you been loud for three
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  years? Wasn't something crazy, but I'm
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  determined that. Shit, five days ago she
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  celebrated her four year anniversary.
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  As you would expect, Emily has become quite a renowned figure
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  on Twitch since she started streaming because she's really
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  pushing boundaries, for better or for worse.
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  It's like the Twitch version of The Truman Show all Big Brother
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  at this point. And there are literally no
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  rules. I mean, there are no like sick
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  days or leaves that she can take.
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  She's also constantly being judged.
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  And I think it's really complicated when you take a
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  moment to think about it. On the one hand, I think Emily's
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  experience is a definite testament to the intimacy of
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  streaming and how you can really become part of someone's daily
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  life or routine. But on the other, I think it
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  does raise some ethical questions, like at what point
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  does this stop being entertainment and start being a
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  sort of exploitation? Even if it is her own choice,
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  this type of streaming isn't just like content creation.
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  Her life literally is the content.
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  There is no separation. And while Emily definitely does
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  choose to do this, I do think we should ask if the platform
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  should allow or encourage that level of exposure.
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  And of course, I do acknowledge that platforms have little
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  incentive to stop it from a monetary or financial
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  perspective. As long as the stream stays
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  live, the engagement keeps on coming.
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  And everyone benefits in theory, except maybe the creator in that
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  mental health. I'm definitely curious to hear
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  what you guys think about all that though.
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  Well, that is everything from mini tech scroll today.
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  I hope you guys enjoyed. I feel like it was definitely
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  weird having more people in the room.
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  But Lauren will speak to you guys tomorrow and I will see you
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  next week. Thanks for listening.
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  Bye.