Why this woman started getting baby ads on Facebook is a super creepy insight into our digital lives
Daily Mirror reporter Talia Shadwell went viral with this thread on Twitter after she suddenly started getting targeted with mummy and baby ads on Facebook.
It’s a creepy (and when we say creepy, we mean downright terrifying) insight into how much advertisers know about us and our bodies in the digital age. You can read her Mirror piece here and this is what she said about it on Twitter.
1.
Been debating whether I should share this – but think it’s a revealing – and somewhat creepy – insight into how big tech navigates women’s bodies: Last week I suddenly began getting mummy and baby ads on Facebook…
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
2.
I don’t have children. But suddenly and out of nowhere sponsored ads for baby clothing, children’s books and pregnancy heath were cluttering my newsfeeds
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
3.
I shrugged at first chalked it up to one of two things – I’m 30 now and it made sense that my social algorithms might start trolling me like an overbearing relative asking when I’m going to get married
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
4.
I also have some friends with babies. I wondered if it could be because I frequently ‘liked’ posts featuring other people’s kids
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
5.
It didn’t overly bother me but it was curious how often the posts began appearing over the past week. And then today I made an interesting connection
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
6.
Like many women I know – I use a period tracker app. I opened it today and found I hadn’t logged last month’s cycle – it flashed a warning that I was very ‘late’
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
7.
Because I had forgotten to log a cycle, the app likely concluded I was pregnant and began communicating the information to third party apps and algorithms
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
8.
I corrected my cycle in the tracker app and just like that – the ads have stopped
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
9.
I find several aspects of this unsettling. Firstly, the likelihood in future that my technology is likely to know I am pregnant before I do
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
10.
The second is less creepy and more telling about who designs this technology- it assumed, perhaps based on my age and the fact I used a fertility tracker, that I would be happy about being pregnant right now so began sending cheery mummy ads
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
11.
The other aspect – which I actually found very funny- was how quickly the algorithms were eager to sell my mythical unborn baby things
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
12.
Plenty has been written about the strange assumptions of these apps – often pink themed, and designed with the assumption women use them to get pregnant – not avoid it. We are used to having personal data monetised – but this is the most striking example I’ve experienced to date
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
13.
Thankyou for reading and apologies for the overshare. Here’s an insightful piece by @ArwaM on period tracking apps and surveillance https://t.co/SylTwwayFh
(@CCriadoPerez)— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
14.
(Also yes I’m aware that by publicly tweeting the words ‘baby’, ‘pregnancy’ and ‘fertility’ in quick succession I’ve probably triggered an excitable algorithm tripwire that’s going to send me endless pictures of women smiling with nappies until I die. RIP my sponsored ads)
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
15.
Hello, thanks for the insightful responses. I’m getting quite a few ‘just use a paper calendar’ comments. Please consider many women using apps have complex, personal health reasons for tracking. A paper calendar can’t offer analysis – apps can save time, money & embarrassment
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
16.
Also to everyone asking which app it was – given the volume of attention this has gotten and as a journalist I’m wary of naming and shaming publicly. It was made by a small developer and isn’t a well-known app so I’m not inclined to damage their business without smoking gun proof
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 3, 2019
17.
Seeing as this seems to have struck a chord with so many people, I've written about this for the @DailyMirror. Sadly I didn't go with the headline suggested by my colleague @MirrorMilo : 'Mark Zuckerberg stay out of my uterus' https://t.co/TSuZCqB5CT
— Talia Shadwell (@TaliaShadwell) November 4, 2019
And here are just a few of the things people said in response.
I had my kids pretty young, but about 10 years ago many of my cohort were starting families. Cue lots of nappy and baby formula ads on Facebook. After a few months of killing them as „not relevant“, I suddenly started getting ads for infertility treatments and cosmetic surgery…
— Lucy_Who 🇪🇺🇩🇪🇬🇧 (@Lucy_T) November 3, 2019
This is creepy as hell. Happened to be too except that I had been pregnant and miscarried….the new mum / baby messages were pretty hard to stomach around the time that my due date should have been.
— 🌈 Spelled with a See (@SeeMack_ie) November 3, 2019
This is creepy as hell. Happened to be too except that I had been pregnant and miscarried….the new mum / baby messages were pretty hard to stomach around the time that my due date should have been.
— 🌈 Spelled with a See (@SeeMack_ie) November 3, 2019
I'm 73, and got baby ads after googling bio-oil (often used to prevent stretch marks).
— Elizabeth Blunt (@BluntSpeaking) November 3, 2019
I don't think you're oversharing, but your Period Tracker is.
— Will de Cleene (@ZippyGonzales) November 4, 2019
Read the full Mirror article here.
Source Twitter @TaliaShadwell Image Pixabay
