I asked a relative to look for RealVNC on the Play Store and install it. Once they were done, I asked them to fulfill a basic task inside RealVNC and they were really confused by my instructions. I took a look at their phone, lo and behold, they had installed a different app. I asked them to repeat the install procedure while I watched. They punched in “realvnc” in the search box, two identically formatted results appeared. Their finger instinctively clicked the Install button on the top result. It was an ad. 🤦♂️🤦♀️🤦
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Must have something to do with the setting on my phone, I have seen what you are showing before
Same
That’s a fucking Google, an advertising company, for you.
Clearly many of the commenters here have not supported average smartphone users enough to know how they will blindly click the first thing that looks anything like what they think the technician is asking them to click. Remember, the average person does not have a laptop or desktop computer, they only have a phone (and only the one because they probably traded their old phone in with the carrier for a pittance when they got their current one), and they often do not have internet service at home and simply rely on mobile data from their unlimited data plan.
Pffft, the young generation, not hardened by the 6 different download buttons on a torrent search engine… /s
This, but unironically. How can you be so blind to click on something called Zoho, when RealVNC (the thing you searched for) is right below it?
Google play shouldn’t confuse users just because some company pays more for ads
Google being evil and assholes doesn’t remove the fact that this person literally didn’t spend a second to check what they clicked.
Digital safety starts with everyone, despite if we need laws to regulate the asshole companies trying to mess with people’s lack of attention.
They didn’t click anything. This is just a post about the annoyance of ads.
This seems like a case of user error, considering the sponsored result is clearly not the application you asked them to install. However, the Play Store is undoubtedly trash and anti-consumer which is why I primarily use the Aurora Store even on non-deGoogled phones. Performing the same search in Aurora, that Zoho Assist app is not even in the first 20 results while RealVNC Viewer and RealVNC Server are the top two results.
No, fuck that. The ads being listed before rhe first result are intended to cause people to misclick. That isn’t all on the user.
Don’t excuse predatory business practices.
Are you illiterate? My very next sentence was:
However, the Play Store is undoubtedly trash and anti-consumer which is why I primarily use the Aurora Store even on non-deGoogled phones.
If the practices are predatory, blaming the user is excusing the predatory practices. Bragging about how you use something else in that context is doubling down on blaming the user instead of the practices.
So no, I am not illiterate. You ahould have just left off the sentence blaming the victim.
is doubling down on blaming the user instead of the practices
They blamed both, though.
Blaming a user for falling for malicious practices designed by multibillion dollars companies is like blaming the victim of a hit and run. “It was their fault for using the crosswalk, but the driver was also wrong for not stopping.”
Both sides!
Yeah, no one should have to look at what they’re doing to stop themselves from making mistakes! Everyone should be able to blindly make decisions and they should always be correct!
Victims just bring it on themselves!
