the logic of ad targeting works is not persuasion; the ads aren't meant to change your mind but unobtrusively confirm your sense of who you are
If the targets are convinced of anything, it's that they are immune to persuasion, that their identity is already realized
the ads posit the targeted self as already persuaded, already possessed of its specific beliefs and desires (the ones that data analysis revealed)
targeted ads try to reinforce the idea that people can't be persuaded. Instead they are produced, through data analysis. access to data is more important than access to their mind
you don't change people's mind by engaging it with arguments; targeted ads suggest that you just create an environment around them that sustains the desires and ideas you want them to have
Facebook is staked on the efficacy of targeted ads; on users that don't need to be persuaded, only tracked
The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal is in some ways a sustained advertisement for the idea that targeted ads really work; FB really is a space where people can be molded rather than persuaded
but the Facebook/CA scandal is also prompting users to reinterpret targeted ads not as flattery but as "emotional manipulation." It reveals that FB works for advertisers at the expense of the agency of its users
that goes beyond FB's abuse of user data; the assumption that FB users are essentially Pavlovian dogs is built into their business model. FB use is premised on users submitting to behaviorism
FB stakes itself on the idea that it can make you feel as though you are in a self-confirming space, but it sells advertisers on the idea that it can perform feats of emotional and political manipulation
It's one thing when you watch Fox News or move to a city: you are looking for ideological confirmation of your choices. Not sure people sign up for Facebook with that intent, though it becomes the core way FB tries to drive "engagement"
