Sexually explicit AI-generated images of Taylor Swift have been circulating on X (formerly Twitter) over the last day in the latest example of the proliferation of AI-generated fake pornography and the challenge of stopping it from spreading.
X’s policies regarding synthetic and manipulated media and nonconsensual nudity both explicitly ban this kind of content from being hosted on the platform.
I don’t mind ads and suggested pages that are vaguely related to my interests, but aside from obscene manga and obvious fake baits for horny men (seriously I watch my porn in private tabs), I’m not interested in groups as exotic as “car spotting Philippines” or “my dream mud house in Congo”
So - honest advice. I remember magazines - some with more ads than articles. You just flip past them. It’s different now because websites know your scrolling rates and FB wants you to engage. It’s why I actually click though a couple of ads every so often. Merrill? Great shoes. Osprey? Yeah, nice backpacks. Anycubic? I’ll probably want a new resin printer some day. Sure, with 2-3 clicks I can - and do - switch to the chronological “friends” feed that is exclusively friend-posted content with some paid ads (not engagement content) to pay the bills.
As for private browsing, I hear you. But, also, your IP is part of your online fingerprint. You don’t need cookies or tracking pixels from previous sessions active for FB to know - through the aggregation data they buy (possibly even from your Internet provider) what you’re looking at.
[Disclaimer - this next bit is anecdotal, no data to support the following theory.]I had a friend who suddenly was getting a ton of MAGA and alien conspiracy ads of his FB page. He doesn’t track his outgoing IP but I suspect that he was just re-assigned an outgoing IP that has previously been used by someone else (his locality is very red, politically, though he ie not). I know for my IP I’ve had my IPv4 for at least 7 months. It’s one reason that my wife, daughter and I all get intertwined ads on what we search.
To attempt get around this, one option is a vpn. Add to that a separate private browser (it’s how I did my online Christmas shopping, and it’s kind of a pain). You’re still in danger of machine fingerprinting, but it’s usually too much hassle for just marketing to wind its way back to you.