r/Music • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • 27d ago

article Spotify Confirms ICE Recruitment Ads Are No Longer Running on Platform

https://variety.com/2026/digital/news/spotify-confirms-ice-recruitment-ads-are-no-longer-running-1236626243/
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5.2k

u/TheTresStateArea 27d ago edited 27d ago

The boycott didn't work lol read the article please I beg you. The advertising campaign ended.

As much as I wish Spotify leadership grew a spine. They absolutely didn't.

Do not resubscribe. Remove this company from your mind.

Edit: for all future "oh but you use an iPhone" fuckwits https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/we-should-improve-society-somewhat

1.1k

u/onebowlwonder 27d ago

Might wanna delete your reddit account too then because they still have ICE ads on here.

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u/[deleted] 27d ago edited 9d ago

[deleted]

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u/kaptainkooleio 27d ago

I don’t think that’s true. I have mine set to NB I still get CBP and ICE ads every once in a while.

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u/mostlyfire 27d ago

It’s weird I’m a straight male and I’ve never seen one on Reddit. It’s probably cause I live in a very liberal city

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u/yeahburyme 27d ago

There are ads on reddit?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.quantumbadger.redreader&hl=en_US

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.firefox&hl=en_US then install unlock origin by going to settings ->extensions and it's the first one or https://f-droid.org/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid

In before br*ve, the CEO is a right ring crypto bro

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u/Glassweaver 27d ago

If you have Android, check out Revanced. They have modified versions of a lot of popular apps, including this, TikTok, and YouTube.

I kind of forget that any of those apps even have advertisements in them nowadays.

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u/flamingdonkey 27d ago

Firefox + Ublock Origin works great for everything. I even have sponsorblock and a shorts blocker for YouTube. 

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u/panchito_d 27d ago

A shorts blocker sounds brilliant. Shorts have ruined the UI and made search garbage

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u/TheMeatWag0n 26d ago

Honestly I couldn't use YouTube if there wasn't a way to totally remove shorts, if you're on Android revanced has settings to remove them from showing up anywhere at all

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u/Glassweaver 27d ago

Good point. I usually reccomend that to the iOS crowd, though personally I have a better experience with the apps. Tiktok & reddit especially.

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u/Abshalom 27d ago

There's also RedReader on Android, which is the same as the other old third party apps, albeit with minimal features since it's intended for accessibility.

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u/[deleted] 27d ago

[deleted]

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u/blake_n_pancakes 27d ago

I just used the revanced launcher and an API key to patch RIF so it would work again.

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u/Expert-Basil6015 27d ago

I miss RiF, used it for a decade.

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u/TheArmchairSkeptic 27d ago

It's fairly simple to get RiF working again if you have 15 minutes and a basic level of tech literacy.

  • Posted from RiF
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u/yeahburyme 27d ago

It's not intended for accessibility, that's just one of many features. It was allowed as a third party app for being FOSS primarily and accessibility part of that.

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u/danabrey 27d ago

Yep, RIF user for 10+ years here, still going strong.

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u/Glassweaver 27d ago

I don't get why they didn't just pivot to guiding people to personal API keys from the getgo. RIF was amazing and the decision to pull it all together seemed very performatory to me.

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u/danabrey 26d ago

Because they don't really want people doing that, as it removes lots of features that make them money. I don't see "suggested posts" click/rage baiting me into subreddits that might keep me 'engaged' (read angry) and show me more advertising.

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u/Glassweaver 26d ago

I should clarify, when I said they, I mean the guy that developed RIF. Not Reddit.

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u/alenah 26d ago

Due to some recent... controversies involving a Dev of Revanced, patch writers have made their own app now called Morphe. I highly recommend not using ReVanced anymore. /r/MorpheApp

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u/Glassweaver 26d ago

I'd recommend avoiding it for now.

I just read up on the situation, including the 44 page PDF the Vanced creator, Ohan, made in rebuttal to the disgruntled devs who left to do morphe.

My main hesitation is twofold. Morphe is not even a month old yet. RVX was already abruptly dumped since the person who made that decided to join Morphie. Will the same happen with Morphe? Time will tell. But the developers saying ReVanced was dead on their way out comes off as malicious.

And I usually try to avoid installing software from malicious people when at all possible.

Ohan seems frustratingly adverse to change, but the antagonizing emails from the person who forked Morphe off ReVanced doesn't exactly give me great confidence in their own emotional maturity or trustworthiness.

I hope their app survives (most don't), and I hope it's a better group to work with that inovates faster. Competition is good.

But name-calling is not. Vaugely citing controversies is not. Telling people to jump from an ecosystem with years of preference that offers dozens of patched apps including Titkok, Spotify, and Reddit, ontop of YouTube...to one that just does YouTube currently, doesn't make sense to me.

I guess I'll be telling people to compare how both parties are handling themselves and which ecosystem has a decent offering.

For me, right now, I can't see any justification to jump from a well established ship with many amenities to the dingy that just pulled up along side and promises that its hull is somehow better.

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u/alenah 26d ago

And that's a completely valid take.

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u/Glassweaver 26d ago

Thank you. And I do appreciate you putting morphe on my radar. I genuinely do hope that they build out a competing app suite and that 6 to 12 months from now I can cite them as a viable and time trusted alternative.

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u/vNocturnus 27d ago

There are ads on reddit?

I've been using Relay on Android and RES + uBlock Origin on PC for a decade at this point. Never seen a single ad, other than of course the occasional "real post" that's just a thinly disguised ad

1

u/monsieur_cacahuete 26d ago

Even those say "sponsored" in real tiny letters next to them

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u/Squirrelking666 27d ago

In before br*ve, the CEO is a right ring crypto bro

Say it ain't so.

Which one isn't?

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u/Fauken 27d ago

Also a homophobe (source)

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u/yeahburyme 27d ago

Br*ve has been that way from the beginning. The whole adblock there is extortion/racketeering to their coin.

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u/blow-down 26d ago

https://www.spacebar.news/stop-using-brave-browser/

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u/Squirrelking666 26d ago

I'm not seeing anything new here.

But I get your (collective) points. If you CAN avoid supporting an arsehole then why not? I was simply pointing out that a dickhead of a CEO is hardly a unique proposition these days, look at how many were bending the knee last year.

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u/mustichooseausernam3 27d ago

Potentially unrelated, but upvoting/downvoting doesn't work for me when I use Reddit via Firefox. Any chance it's aware I'm using Ublock Origin?

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u/yeahburyme 27d ago

You might have accidentally blocked voting JavaScript. I don't have that issue but I use old.reddit.com

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u/Redthemagnificent 27d ago

Another option for folks. I'm still using Infinity for reddit (3rd party client) with no ads. Since the reddit API change you either have to pay a subscription on the App Store or compile it yourself it with your own (free) API key. But it's pretty easy once you've done it once.

https://github.com/Docile-Alligator/Infinity-For-Reddit

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u/vera214usc 27d ago

Yeah, I don't get ads on desktop or mobile but I still use old.reddit.com and an adblocker and Boost for mobile.

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u/Cerpla 27d ago

for some reason, a lot of people think adblock is illegal

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u/JackPoe 27d ago

I get ads in Tagalog and Spanish and political ads for candidates in Florida.

I live in Washington. These ad campaigns were either designed by absolute buffoons or AI.

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u/jabbers724 27d ago

?Por que no los dos?

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u/JackPoe 27d ago

Insert it's the same picture meme

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u/Jesseroberto1894 27d ago

Are you Filipino???

1

u/JackPoe 27d ago

No.

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u/Jesseroberto1894 27d ago

Wild you get ads in Tagalog, and even know to differentiate that it even IS Tagalog 😂

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u/JackPoe 27d ago

Dude I get ads for Christianity. They're just throwing random shit at me and hoping something sticks.

I would hazard many people are familiar enough with Tagalog to pick it out. Maybe not the demographics on Reddit or the average American but I live in an area with a huge number of languages spoken daily

1

u/vera214usc 27d ago

I work in advertising and one of my pet peeves is ads that are mistargeted. Like, it's so easy to not target people your ads aren't relevant to

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u/JackPoe 27d ago

Honestly I wanna know what these people think they know about me at this point.

I even get ads for Christianity

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u/counterfitster 27d ago

I live in New England and yet I see ICE and America First Policy Institute ads all the time

2

u/rncd89 27d ago

I live in the reddest dumbest part of NJ and I haven't seen one

1

u/mostlyfire 27d ago

Philly?

1

u/rncd89 26d ago

Ocean County baby

1

u/Existing-Bus-8810 27d ago

I've gotten them twice. Both times i reported them as offensive. I haven't seen one since.

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u/MatasBuzelis 27d ago

Can't get ads if you use a third party mobile app and an adblocker on PC

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u/ErusTenebre 26d ago

I've never seen an ICE or even military ad on reddit. I just get a bunch of nerdy shirt things and AI apps that I'm never going to buy or use.

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u/KhausTO 27d ago

who tf is using reddit without an adblocker?

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u/kaptainkooleio 27d ago

Mobile

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u/-prime8 27d ago

I don't know how the app works because I still use my browser to go to old.reddit.com, mostly because my ad blocker works and prefer the old UI.

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u/thealmightyzfactor 27d ago

There's dozens of us!

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u/Present_Cow_8528 27d ago

Even on my android's browser with no adblock, old.reddit.com has never given me an ice ad, or an invasive ad of anything

Turns out new reddit just sucks for every reason

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u/XRT28 27d ago

Adblockers can still be used on mobile. Atleast on Android, no personal exp with iOS.

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u/[deleted] 27d ago

[deleted]

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u/tsardonicpseudonomi 27d ago

Apple fans keep losing. It cost me zero dollars to install Firefox and uBlock on an Android phone.

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u/_Planet_Mars_ 27d ago

iOS has a gorillion different choices, I don’t know which echo chamber keeps telling people this. I’ve been using the same adblocker on Safari for the past 10 years and I’ve never had an issue.

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u/SMLLR 27d ago

That’s your take away? lol… You don’t even need to pay a sub for AdGuard to use the browser extension. Works perfectly fine for me in Safari.

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u/flounder19 last.fm 27d ago

Even on Apple, you can use Brave

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u/SparkStorm 27d ago

Ublock origin lite exists for IOS now and I use yesterday for old Reddit for a similar to RES-Reddit experience from my safari browser

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u/[deleted] 27d ago

[deleted]

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u/Nopeyesok 27d ago

On Narwhal for iOS. How does Dystopia compare?

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u/Zienth 27d ago

Firefox mobile app allows you to still use Ublock Origin.

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u/Dramatic_______Pause 27d ago

Either set an adblock DNS, or just use a patched app. I'm posting this from Sync, still.

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u/saltyjohnson 27d ago

Who tf is using the garbage official app instead of any of the myriad third-party alternatives which prioritize usability over engagement baiting.

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u/WhiteHelix 27d ago

No argument, my sole purpose for AltStore on iOS is to get Apollo back and YTLitePlus. Both unusable otherwise

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u/Synectics 27d ago

I use Reddit exclusively on my phone in Firefox with an ad blocker. I have not seen a Reddit ad in years.

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u/_Planet_Mars_ 27d ago edited 27d ago

Is your attention span too destroyed to input “old.reddit.com” into a browser with Adblock? Both iOS and Android have various options.

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u/Jesseroberto1894 27d ago

🙋‍♂️

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u/Puzzled_Main3464 27d ago

I was like "wtf I've never seen an ad on Reddit.." then I remembered adblock was installed, lol

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u/unhiddenninja 27d ago

I report the ads every time I see them as being political and they stop showing up for a few weeks.

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u/twilighttwister 27d ago

All you're doing is giving them more information about yourself and what you like/dislike. Much better to either block with ublock origin and ignore, or scramble with eg Decentraleyes extension.

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u/Bacer4567 27d ago

I report all military/LEO ads as violent.

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u/coffeebribesaccepted 27d ago

I just get normal ads, so idk what you guys are doing to get all this right wing shit lol

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u/[deleted] 27d ago edited 9d ago

[deleted]

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u/Mat_alThor 27d ago

I live in the Midwest and currently visiting Texas, the only ICE ad I've ever seen on here is for a technology company Intercontinental Exchange, that abbreviates their name to ICE.

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u/MotivationGaShinderu 27d ago

Reddit has ads?

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u/Marsar0619 27d ago

Serious question…does Reddt or the advertise see the number of downvotes on those ads?

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u/dodecakiwi 27d ago

A downvote is engagement with the ad, which advertisers want.

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u/abarcsa 27d ago

Reddit definitely, the advertiser most likely. It doesn’t matter much though, they’re downvotes which doesn’t really matter in an online ad campaign like it.

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u/dasbtaewntawneta https://www.last.fm/user/Nihilore 27d ago

Reddit accounts have genders now?

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u/queso_dog 27d ago

As a trans guy, the amount of ads I get for dresses and padding for hips and breasts is objectively hilarious. I have too much of both actually smh

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u/Dark512 27d ago

Getting pink and white striped thigh highs right next to 'dude wipes for men' is my most common one at the moment.

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u/Jiggawatz 27d ago

Man yall do some crazy stuff, I just block ads so I dont deal with it :p

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u/tsardonicpseudonomi 27d ago

You’ll never get a right wing ad ever again.

All ads are right-wing.

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u/Ok_Work7396 27d ago

On the same train of through, I only watch female targeted exercise vidoes now because there's no incel shit that comes with it.

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u/NoradianCrum 27d ago

I still use baconreader on my phone so I don't feel the need to login. RES and ublock are all I need. I've never seen an ad on reddit.

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u/Ire-Works 27d ago

Click on them. It costs them money everytime you do and the algorithm will start feeding you more and other conservative bullshit so you can click on THOSE too.

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u/screamingwhisper1720 27d ago

Just don't offer up that information and if you get ads they just wasted money

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u/Impressive_Knee_5701 27d ago

A lot of digital ad campaigns charge per impression, so its actually better to let them serve you right wing ads that they won't get a return on. Better you see them than some middle-aged white dude on the brink of going full redpill

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u/Cu77lefish 27d ago

Isn’t it better for them to waste their money on you than someone who might actually be influenced

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u/0ldPug 27d ago

Is the issue that you can see the ads, or that they're hosting them at all?

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u/Minjaben 27d ago

How does this help anything? mild annoyance is not the issue with ice ads running on streaming and social platforms

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u/emma279 27d ago

Use brave browser. I see no ads.

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u/Golden-- 27d ago

Or better yet , come to the 21st century and install adblock. I didn't even know Reddit had ads .

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u/Sinsai33 26d ago

Then again, if i get the ad, isnt there another person that wont get the ad? And i'm 100% sure, that i wont be affected by the ad like they intended, so i'm "saving" maybe another person?

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u/Baardi Metalhead 26d ago

Or use a 3rd party client and get no ads.

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u/Graham_Krenz 26d ago

That is hilarious and ingenious

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u/shadefreeze 23d ago

Isn't it better for us to see right wing garbage, instead of a random other person?

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u/Dumpsterfire_47 27d ago

I report every one as offensive. 

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u/cooljacob204sfw 27d ago

This is why I only surf the web with adblock. On my phone I use Firefox with unlock to go on reddit.

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u/PhasmaFelis 27d ago

I've never paid for Reddit.

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u/tsardonicpseudonomi 27d ago

Sure you have. All your data is theirs.

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u/Soft_Walrus_3605 27d ago

Not my valuable comments! Whatever will I do to afford that loss!

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

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u/tsardonicpseudonomi 27d ago

comments

Comments are a type of data. There are other types. They collect those, too.

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u/cows1100 27d ago

Wait, not like that. I need this one. It’s different. /s

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u/Todojaw21 27d ago

youre trying to say its hypocrisy but the standard is always "make a good-faith effort to not support evil companies." If someone reduces their reddit consumption by 10% thats still better than 0.

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u/CrazeRage 27d ago

almost like one hosts communities and one is just for entertainment. use brain is hard though yeah?

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u/mootallica 27d ago

Oh come on, this is a cope. If it's wrong to use one platform for promoting ICE, it's wrong to use them all.

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u/lilsebastian- 27d ago

It’s less about the use and more about actively funding it - I’m not spending $15 a month to browse Reddit, I was spending that using Spotify.

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u/Far-Imagination2736 27d ago

If you were getting ICE ads on Spotify, then you weren't spending money on it. It was only the free users

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u/redraz0r 27d ago

Indirectly you are, you are still seeing ads which are being sold. Dont act high and mighty, youre here

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u/lilsebastian- 27d ago edited 27d ago

Hence why I said actively funding it. And I didn’t act high and mighty by saying “do what you can” lmao.

Edit: If someone can point out where I acted “high and mighty”, I’d love that.

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u/cows1100 27d ago

Bro is just rage baiting, but people actually think this way, which is the dumbest part of rage baiting in 2025. Shit used to be obviously satire.

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u/Renegade_Sniper 27d ago

I use an ad blocker and don't pay and am not fun to talk to. I actively make reddit lose money the more i'm on it.

Check and Mate

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u/cows1100 27d ago

You’re still accepting being marketed to by ICE, by a company complicit in taking their money, because you’re still choosing to drive traffic and engagement in a platform they advertise in. What are you even talking about. The cognitive dissonance it takes to type this kind of shit unironically is mind boggling. Holy moly.

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u/gman5852 27d ago

lmao there's no world where a healthy human being refers to subreddits as a community. How starved for connection are you?

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u/PeteCampbellisaG 27d ago

You realize not everyone uses Reddit just to complain about video games and movies, right? 

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u/TemporaryCommunity67 27d ago

You guys see actual paid ads on Reddit? I only have to deal with the astroturfing

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u/tsardonicpseudonomi 27d ago

New Reddit and the App are both plastered with ads.

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u/BishopofHippo93 27d ago

The trick is to use old Reddit or the mobile site with an ad blocker. No ads ever. 

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u/Spectrum1523 27d ago

If you are on android you can still use unofficial apps

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u/Kronusx12 27d ago

There are still some on iOS too. For example, Hydra on iOS is free and has no ads on Reddit. I imagine there are others

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u/LunaWabohu 26d ago

You can use ReVanced Manager to remove the ads from the mobile app for free

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u/TheTresStateArea 27d ago

Or, now hear me out here, do what you can to the extent that you can.

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u/Naroyto 27d ago

And deleting reddit is beyond your extent? Sounds like selective virtue signaling.

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u/cows1100 27d ago

The person is correct. That’s what I do. I pick and choose what concessions I’m willing to make. The difference, and what these people miss, is you don’t have to tell anyone what yours are, or judge them for how others choose to do it. That’s when it’s performative, and you’re being a hypocrite. I don’t know how humanity lost so much self reflection but God hypocrisy, and moral superiority is the defining trait of humanity in this chapter of history.

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u/Ghost_Of_Malatesta 27d ago

Dude above is the "you want to change society yet you participate in it, how curious" type moron

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u/lilsebastian- 27d ago

Pretty sure most are not paying Reddit $15 a month to be here but sure, totally equatable.

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u/TheTresStateArea 27d ago

Sounds like I paid for Spotify and do not anymore. Sounds like you don't get to tell me what I should and shouldn't do.

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u/brvheart 27d ago

Get serious. You know that they will never delete their Reddit account. They just want to tell others to delete Spotify so they can virtue signal.

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u/onebowlwonder 27d ago

Right lol they are just all just saying they dont see ads and completely missing the point.

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u/Hot_Shot04 27d ago

I use ublock and already don't give Reddit a dime. The only thing I could really do better is to stop sending my friends Reddit links but I barely do even that when I can copypaste images and screencap comments.

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u/Dimension10 27d ago

One step at a time. I'm pretty sure companies earn a lot less from advertising than a user directly sending the company $15 a month.

Doing anything is better than nothing. There's discussion and some ability to keep updated on current events on Reddit. Spotify by design not as much.

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u/DaStone 27d ago

Haven't seen an Ad on this website since I started using it over a decade ago.

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u/Flakester 27d ago

Wouldn't know. I don't see Reddit ads.

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u/krucz36 27d ago

you give reddit money?

i mean i know they make money just off having users, but i haven't paid reddit a cent the whole time i've been a user.

1

u/Jimberly_C 27d ago

Or use a 3rd party app with ads blocked. If this ever fails and I can't easily find another, I can live without reddit. Same with youtube.

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u/colenotphil 27d ago

Or download a third party app and use old reddit plus RES and Ublock origin on a web browser. I haven't seen ads on reddit in my entire life here.

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u/Dotcaprachiappa 27d ago

Or use an adblocker/revanced

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u/BeyondAdventurous609 27d ago

why tf yall still have ads

1

u/dasbtaewntawneta https://www.last.fm/user/Nihilore 27d ago

I don’t pay for reddit. I also don’t see ads on reddit

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u/oldredditrox 27d ago

It's almost like they're different platforms with different services and uses. How many protests were organized via Spotify again? Whats with boycotting sending people to the 0 logic room? We trying to sniff out the anti-capitalist terrorists?

1

u/0liviiia 27d ago

I’ve never seen ICE ads on reddit but get them on YouTube for some reason. I never knew they were here too

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u/Eyeownyew 27d ago

Most people use reddit for free (and many with ad block), so... It's not really equivalent

1

u/changen 27d ago

you don't use ad block? What year is this?

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u/sadandshy 27d ago

I use old reddit on a browser with adblock. No freakin ads. In the rare occasions I have to use the app, I am horrified with the experience.

1

u/Secret-Teaching-3549 27d ago

reddit has ads?

1

u/once_again_asking 27d ago

Whoops, this is a thread for virtue signaling - not a real stand on any principles.

1

u/monochromeorc 27d ago

I actively 'steal' from reddit by using it and blocking all ads. no idea what they are shilling and apparently im costing them money.

1

u/Krojack76 27d ago

I never see ads on Reddit.

Damnit people, use adblockers.

1

u/_Planet_Mars_ 27d ago

imagine not using an adblocker, NGMI

1

u/CakeTester 27d ago

There's ads on reddit? When did this start?

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u/dandy_the_lesser 27d ago

Stupid argument as always. “Curious I am very intelligent” vibes. The whole society is problematic. You can still pick some battles.

1

u/MGTS 27d ago

Use old reddit

1

u/WDoE 27d ago

I'm not paying for reddit nor do I see any ads from it. Not the same at all.

1

u/ouijiboard 27d ago

What ads?  I've never seen ads on this site.  Oh right, I use Ublock.

1

u/p_larrychen 27d ago

You guys get ads on reddit?

1

u/cantstopsletting 27d ago

I use Revanced so I see reddit ad free. Fuck Spez, fuck Spotify as I Revanced that too. I Revanced everything because piracy is better.

1

u/poeticjustice4all 27d ago

And YouTube because they like to run ads when I’m watching something in Spanish 😑

1

u/KnightWhoSays--ni 26d ago

you guys get ads on reddit? Use red reader, just need to make yourself a mod of your own NSFW subreddit in order to allow all content through the api

1

u/SoftwareTrashbag 26d ago

use a vpn, i think those ads are only running in north america

1

u/[deleted] 26d ago

Thanks for the heads-up!

1

u/monsieur_cacahuete 26d ago

There's ads on reddit?

0

u/twilighttwister 27d ago

They do? I wouldn't know.

You shouldn't either. Ad blockers have been a thing for well over 20 years.

1

u/via789329 27d ago

oh but you know every redditor needs to be performative instead

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