Gambling App Store ads are showing up next to addiction recovery apps

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited October 2022
There are more ads in the App Store, including gambling apps next to kids applications -- and worse yet, next to gambling addiction recovery ones.

App Store
App Store


Developer Marco Arment shared a screenshot of the advertising controls for product pages in the App Store. The tool shows that advertisers can choose to show their ads across all app categories, similar app categories, and other categories.

Correction to earlier tweet (deleted): product-page ads are NOT limited to relevant apps.

You can specifically choose to show your ad against irrelevant apps!

(Just not specific apps. They're saying "Advertise my casino everywhere," not "Advertise my casino against Overcast.") pic.twitter.com/hrAWdJDyyb

-- Marco Arment (@marcoarment)


Apple also provides a demographic filter for the app advertisers to choose a country, gender, or age range for their ads. The ads aren't necessarily targeted at kids, but they could appear connected to kids' apps, at least on accounts not bound by age restrictions or parental controls.

Of course, the demographic filter doesn't do much if the ad buyer doesn't bother with accurate data either on purpose or accidentally.

Although they aren't for gambling, ads appear in product pages for children's apps such as Roblox, Minecraft, and YouTube Kids
Although they aren't for gambling, ads appear in product pages for children's apps such as Roblox, Minecraft, and YouTube Kids


Perhaps worse yet, there are gambling apps being attached to listings for gambling addiction apps. AppleInsider has seen several of these.

What's this? Ads for gambling at the bottom of a listing for a gambling addiction recovery app. How could this possibly go wrong? #Apple #appstore pic.twitter.com/9MQQvDMx8r

-- Jon (@hot_doggin_jon)


Apple started testing the new App Store ad placements in July. It expands ad slots to the App Store's Today page, the "You Might Also Like" section in an app's product page, and the Search tab.

On Tuesday, other developers pointed out gambling ads appearing on their app pages. For example, Simon Stovring reported that he'd found that gambling ads appeared on pages for his apps 30% of the time.

Apple's expanded ad placements in the App Store went into effect on October 25. The ads will appear in the respective regional App Stores in all countries where it operates -- except China.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    Fred257Fred257 Posts: 237member
    The government should look into this. Apple, this looks really bad. Whatever psychopath n your company made this decision needs to be publicly fired.
    danoxwilliamlondon
  • Reply 2 of 14
    foregoneconclusionforegoneconclusion Posts: 2,689member
    Yes, the developers are shocked...SHOCKED...to find that gambling operations spend a lot of money on advertising. Give me a break. The United States is flooded with gambling advertising pretty much anywhere you look. Kids who like sports are going to see DraftKings advertising all the time in mainstream broadcasts, just as one example.
    edited October 2022 williamlondonJaiOh81dewmewatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 14
    mac_dogmac_dog Posts: 1,069member
    Fred257 said:
    The government should look into this. Apple, this looks really bad. Whatever psychopath n your company made this decision needs to be publicly fired.
    Do you even know what a psychopath is? I highly doubt it. I’d say it’s more like unintended consequences and Apple simply has to clean it up. Fire someone? Sounds like a hysterical reaction. Y’all been watching way too much news. 
    edited October 2022 headfull0winewilliamlondonbeowulfschmidtwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 14
    jagnutjagnut Posts: 24member
    Isn’t it a good thing that addiction recovery ads appear next to gambling apps so that gamblers can get help?
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 14
    bala1234bala1234 Posts: 145member
    Nobody in Apple (or any other company involved in advertising) made a decision decided to show gambling ads next to addiction recovery or children's apps .  The simple answer is its complicated. You are dependent on lots of variables for e.g. the advertisers declaring the category of their ad. The Apps being advertised on adding the right flags to their apps and so on.  I am not being an 'apologist' here but some stuff is bound to slip through. Let's wait and see how Apple responds to this...
    williamlondonfastasleepdewmewatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 14
    mikethemartianmikethemartian Posts: 1,326member
    mac_dog said:
    Fred257 said:
    The government should look into this. Apple, this looks really bad. Whatever psychopath n your company made this decision needs to be publicly fired.
    Do you even know what a psychopath is? I highly doubt it. I’d say it’s more like unintended consequences and Apple simply has to clean it up. Fire someone? Sounds like a hysterical reaction. Y’all been watching way too much news. 
    It would be like Tim Cook firing Scott Forstall over Apple Maps. He would never do that.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 7 of 14
    mikethemartianmikethemartian Posts: 1,326member
    Fred257 said:
    The government should look into this. Apple, this looks really bad. Whatever psychopath n your company made this decision needs to be publicly fired.
    https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/a3b/80b/19e7c9e6eab8c66052800dfcabfe7012da-16-truman.2x.rsquare.w700.jpg
    williamlondon
  • Reply 8 of 14
    danoxdanox Posts: 2,874member
    Gambling apps, Bitcoin apps, Meta, constant ads and notifications add nothing special to Apple’s ecosystems the constant pimping becomes a turnoff.

    Someone at the top needs to say no, unfortunately Apple no longer has an Owner/Founder running the company.

    Stuff like Gambling, Bitcoin, Meta, and others should be in a browser only, the time has come.

    Let Android be the trash repository.
    edited October 2022 williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 14
    headfull0wineheadfull0wine Posts: 111member
    jagnut said:
    Isn’t it a good thing that addiction recovery ads appear next to gambling apps so that gamblers can get help?
    You might want to put addiction recovery app ads next to searches for gambling apps. But you don’t want to put gambling app ads next to searches for addiction recovery apps. 
    williamlondonJaiOh81
  • Reply 10 of 14
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    bala1234 said:
    Nobody in Apple (or any other company involved in advertising) made a decision decided to show gambling ads next to addiction recovery or children's apps .  
    They made the decision to allow gambling app advertising, and then did not monitor it very closely.

    Advertising of gambling has specific regulation in many jurisdictions, so it’s highly improbable that gambling app advertising has not been specifically discussed.  They have massively failed to negotiate this territory if this is the result.
    muthuk_vanalingamJaiOh81
  • Reply 11 of 14
    theirongianttheirongiant Posts: 76member
    This problem could be avoided altogether if these apps were not allowed in the first place or severely restricted.   If they are allowed, the age verification can't just be with Apple because kids are way too clever and can easily lie about their age on iTunes/iCloud to bypass the restrictions.  There must be legislation that requires gambling apps to use LIVE age verification with ID.ME or similar video ID services.

    If you live in California, please vote NO on Prop 27.  This would allow online betting for games and races run by casinos on tribal lands.  The apps themselves will work anywhere; you don't have to be at the casino.  Major funding is coming from DraftKings and similar companies interested in promoting gambling. 

    The other one — Prop 26 — expands the number of games allowed in tribal casinos while on the premises.  To me this seems like a better option, since you have to be there in person, and the casino staff WILL ask for your ID the second you try to place a bet and look a little bit too young.


    muthuk_vanalingamwilliamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 14
    zeus423zeus423 Posts: 242member
    Reminds me of when I see a doughnut shop next to a gym. It’s called good placement. 
    dewmewatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 14
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,420member
    "UPDATE: In a statement, Apple tells me it has "paused ads related to gambling and a few other categories on App Store product pages.""


    edited October 2022 watto_cobra
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