Define "advertising". I feel this might be hard to do.

For example is my blog talking about Windows considered as Advertising? What about my blog discussing products we make? What about the web site for my local restaurant?

If I add my restaurant location to Google maps, is that advertising? Are review sites?

If I'm an aggregator (like booking.com) and I display the results for a search is that advertising?

I assume though you meant advertising as in 3rd party advertising. So no Google ad words, no YouTube ads etc. Ok, let's explore that...take say YouTube...

Can creators still embed "sponsored by" scenes? Can they do product placement?

Your suggestion is, unfortunately, not implementable. Leaving aside the merit for a moment, there's just no way that any politician can make it happen. Google and Facebook are too big, with too much cash to lobby with. And that's before you tell everyone that the free internet is no more, now you gotta pay subscriptions.

And, here's the kicker, even if you did force users to pay for Facebook and Google, it's still in their interest to maximize engagement...

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littlecranky67 13 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

In a lot of countries in the EU, advertising for tobaco products, prescription medication, lawyer/docts are prohibited. That ban has been working quite well for decades.

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stingraycharles 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Advertising = compensating someone to promote a product / company.

It’s about the compensation. That makes it advertising.

Regular booking.com is fine. Paying booking.com to allow your results to appear higher is not.

Regular Google Maps to register your restaurant is fine. Paying Google Maps to promote your restaurant is not.

It’s not that hard to implement. Advertising is pretty well defined.

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dahart 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Promotion of anything at all is advertising, with or without compensation. The word advertising is pretty well defined, and the dictionary definitions don’t usually mention compensation, e.g. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/advertise.

An example I’m sure you would consider advertising - consider Google advertising Google Fiber in Google search results, or Facebook advertising business services on Facebook, or Apple, Netflix, Cinemark advertising their own shows & products in their own channels. You’ve seen lots of these, I’m sure you would consider them ads, but it’s not the compensation that makes them ads.

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nozzlegear 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

How would something like Github Sponsors work? Lots of projects use a "sponsor us for $LARGE_SUM and we'll mention you in our readme and release notes" model.

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Barbing 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What would YouTube look like?

(Genuinely happy to read “like the good old days” as an answer!)

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yunohn 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Paying booking.com to allow your results to appear higher is not.

But booking takes a cut of the booking in all scenarios, so they’re already incentivized to prioritize results that result in more profit for them. This all gets very tricky unfortunately.

	▲	arter45 28 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Yes, but that is different. Scenario A: Booking.com wants to increase their profits so they analyze their results and prioritize the best ones to reach their target. Regardless, Booking takes a cut of everything. Scenario B: if you pay Booking $10k you can get to the first page even if you are a random 1-star hotel. Booking takes a cut of everything and also profits by getting money in exchange for more visibility of certain results.

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bruce511 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>> Advertising = compensating someone to promote a product / company.

That's a definition, sure. I feel like it leaves loopholes (under this definition spam isn't advertising, and I guess affiliation programs are?)

If I pay someone to print flyers is that advertising? If I pay squarespace for my site, is that advertising?

What if I need a Google maps subscription to place pins? Is placing a pin then advertising? Even if the subscription gives me other abilities?

Under your definition I guess YouTube creators can't be sponsored. And all existing videos with sponsorship need yo be removed? And I guess no online watching of sports (lots of people paid to wear a logo there...)

Presumably no product placement in Netflix shows (not sure what to do with old content?)

Of course I'm not paid to advertise MiraclePill. My channel exists purely thanks to patreon. No, I don't know that my "executive level" patreons are all MiraclePill employees...

No, I don't pay Google for ads, the ads are free when I purchase GoogleCoin which I buy because I expect GoogleCoin to go up in value...

>> Advertising is pretty well defined.

Alas, I fear it isn't...

	▲	brabel an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		What are you trying to say, that it's impossible to define anything legally without edge cases?? That's bullocks. > If I pay someone to print flyers is that advertising? What the hell, we're talking about internet... you can't put printed flyers on the internet. > If I pay squarespace for my site, is that advertising? No. It's your site, not a third-party site promoting your site! > What if I need a Google maps subscription to place pins? Is placing a pin then advertising? If you promote it somehow, yes... if you just say there's a business there, no, since you're not actively promoting it. Information that something exists by itself cannot be included in "promotion". > And all existing videos with sponsorship need yo be removed? Yes, or re-uploaded without the sponsor segment. > And I guess no online watching of sports (lots of people paid to wear a logo there...) There could be exceptions for ads placed on the real world which are not paid for by the site/creator. There's always cases that must be allowed, no prohibition is absolute. > Presumably no product placement in Netflix shows (not sure what to do with old content?) To be honest, I wouldn't mind subtle product placements in shows. That's a lot less hostile than actual ads we see today on the Internet. > Of course I'm not paid to advertise MiraclePill. If you lie that you're not paid by someone while you are, like with any law, you can be prosecuted for it. > Alas, I fear it isn't... You didn't show what you think you did.
	▲	wasmainiac 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Being a little pedantic here no? 80/20 rule, it’s defined well enough to encompass 80% of advertisements. Anything beyond that is tolerated or illegal spam. And if the situation arises that ads are being used unjustly the legal definition will eventually shift.

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Kerrick 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> The Commission believes these terms are sufficiently clear and declines to add definitions of these terms.

- https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/federal_re...

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toofy 41 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

anything where you take any kind of compensation/gift to display/discuss a product.

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rrgok 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Just answer this question: do you get a compensation for showing me something that I did not click for?

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reddalo 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What about just banning personalized advertising? Like: you can pay Google Maps to show your result as sponsored, but Google can only show it to either everybody or randomized people.

	▲	conductr 37 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		They’re still incentivized to show you as much as possible. I don’t think this moves the needle much.

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kerkeslager 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Let's drop the charade where you pretend you don't know what advertising is. You're smarter than that, and your playing dumb act would be more persuasive if you didn't ask leading questions that clearly show you know the answers. This isn't a good faith argument.

I mean are you really asking whether creators embedding "sponsored by" scenes is an ad as if you don't know? C'mon, don't insult your readers with this nonsense.

HN commenters are not legislators, and even if random HN commenters can't draft legislation, that doesn't mean that a minimally-funded team of experts would have any difficulty with the problem.