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AI and the complete destruction of whatever was left of U.S. regulatory corporate oversight is going to take all of this to the next level these trust fund failsons envision the internet as a giant ouroboros that just shits ad engagement cash and kickbacks, quality or usefulness be damned

Since 2000, 600+ newspapers were bought by one private equity, Alden Global Capital. Other PE's exist in this area. They sell the real estate, presses & data, fire the staff, load it with debt extracted for their own investors & stay afloat on long time ads & subscribers. Then they sell the husk.

“trust fund brunchlord failsons” is now going in my vocabulary.

“trust fund brunchlord failsons” is my new favorite description. Thank you

Hold on to your dough.

At least on the OG Black Friday I got the satisfaction of scouring the mailers and then going to stand in line somewhere at 6 a.m. Those bargains were EARNED

Ahh yes .. the Amazon junk drawer garage sale.

All these supposed journalists serving their audiences with targeted content. And then they claim that audience can trust their reviewers and experts. American shoppers are not very smart.

Edge has a little widget built in that tells you whether a price reduction is real or fake with a little chart of price over time, people are going to figure this out some time

And the deals stink.

As a regular checker of Slickdeals, all these prime day things are the same price or cheaper at any random time. Really the same with non-discounts of Black Friday the past few years & "Cyber Monday" aka leftover and worse BF deals

and even that wouldn't be as bad if these outlets had shown the SLIGHTEST creativity in trying to develop new, alternative journalism funding models instead it's mostly more ads and more paywalls

That's what I was about to say. They're probably ALL getting kickbacks.

Yeah, figures.

Yes! Just thinking about this today as Prime day articles are everywhere-- local/national news, fashion sites, tech sites etc. And if they are using affiliate links they are getting into the action and getting "kickbacks." Democracy is dying for discounts as we support Bezos' billionaire lifestyle

You can shop on prime day and read these articles — even edit them — and still know it is weird and gross.

F Amazon!

Literally a FilmCow video youtu.be/4m_5lv8MH74?...

@karlbode.com and the deals they have to report just are never that compelling.

Oh, I'll certainly admit to being boring. But I can't figure out which shit you think I am defending. As I mentioned, Prime Day is a non-event to me. If you don't like the coverage that Wired provides, don't follow them.

This ⬆️ ⬆️⬆️ I don’t think Jeff Bezos needs the help and he certainly doesn’t deserve it.

For decades, the entire U.S. press also has been a marketing extension for millionaire- and billionaire-owned professional sports franchises. And for every business Musk owns, every major fashion designer, and the entertainment industry. U.S. media IS entertainment. News coverage is coincidental.

evergreen:

Was just noticing this morning. Everyone in media.

Stop trying to make second Black Friday happen.

I noticed and avoid Amazon.

Amazon is a great search engine for finding products and then going to the manufacturer’s website and ordering them so as not to give that slimy fuck, Jeff Bezos, a single cent.

Even Consumer Reports goes all gaga, instead of pointing out that people can save the most by just not buying shit.

One that owns a once upon a time credible newspaper. It’s all broken

bsky.app/profile/ahab...

bsky.app/profile/trut...

www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

As someone who finally cut their cord a couple years ago…I definitely notice their stamp on everything. It’s nauseating

To be fair, they get like 3% of whatever they sell in this MLM scheme.

i hand out oranges, bananas & apples to these hard working drivers (but not delivering to me because fk that = buy local!)

THANK YOU FOR SAYING THIS

another reason to abolish billionaires

I got emails about it! NOT FROM AMAZON!

Ppl click on those articles man idk what to tell you. At some point we just gotta start calling it like it is. Americans are stupid ppl that can be easily fooled or distracted

Bezos Day bsky.app/profile/karl...

Makes me want to buy even less.

It’s horrifying- and underscores the truth that we are under attack Make no mistake the Dems threatening to tax $billionaires to pay a fair share has triggered these societal leaches to react defensively - now working collectively to drive our Republic toward extinction

I deleted my Amazon account. Felt wonderful!

Hopefully they get a big chunk of money for these ads.

“Top News”

I do.

Who?

That's fair.

Something something buying stuff you don’t need with money you don’t have something something

Easy hell NO-never ever again!

They may as well just put up a 'CONSUME' image from They Live

It is why so many planetary boundaries are being exceeded 😢🤬

my wife and I have generally shifted this direction

American culture is 90% ‘buy this 💩’

Welcome to "journalism" in 2025!

Bezos really doesn't have much to do with it anymore. He's a space guy now.

Have had my eyes on a new phone, and when I checked Amazon yesterday, the model I'd been looking at (MSRP $800) was listed for like $690 The manufacturer had also quietly discounted it on their own site to $700 though So Prime was cheaper, but only by 1.4%

I despise this it so much

I find there are always some, but rarely enough.

On my timeline right now... Ah, the irony!

@karlbode.com 👍 People need to #boycott hard.

“stop thinking and buy things dammit!!”

Twice a year would be amazing. Some sites will do this weekly.

@wired.com ......👀

I’m telling you so much of the media now is just parroting whatever press releases come out. And that goes for anything.

wired is the worst. more than twice a year for sure.

I'm sure many of them think it's weird and gross but there's like zero effective revenue streams left for these media companies, they don't really have a choice

I’ve never been a Prime “member” and all this sh… stuff is completely ridiculous. Who needs these overstuffed bargains from a horrible mucketymuck’s cheaty business. Don’t like his newspaper? Don’t buy from him either.

It's also that retailer who's services I never solicit.

Bet they have affiliate deal and get a cut if one clicks on their links.

Looking at you @wired.com

Affiliate links are news now. It's fucking awesome.

I find it offensive

If they'd done this for Sears, we might still have Sears.

Seriously.

And loads of those sites are able to monetize their linked recommendations. Weird? It's straight up corrupt.

yeah don't get me started on the press and apple events

and then repeatedly validated as real news by every other media outlet and all our politicians

No one needs or should shop at Amazon. You can buy most of the stuff elsewhere online, often cheaper, or shop locally and help your community's merchants. Bezos does not need any more money.

Same.

I'm definitely mad, but because I was promised 30% off on the Lego Space Shuttle and then it must've sold out before I could get in or something.

Unfortunately what is considered “newsworthy” is no longer something that’s important; newsworthy is determined by what gets clicks and ad views, not to mention monetized affiliate links. And unlike “Black Friday” stories of old, there’s a monopoly now. :-(

Both NBC news and NJ.com do this all the time.

Fight fascism-ditch Amazon.

Then it must be time for my periodic AmazonLESS Prime Day post: There are some good deals to be had. You can window-shop Amazon to find them. Then go to the company's own website to buy. They will almost always match the Prime Day deal on their own website, usually with a coupon to sweeten the […]

I have a built in filter where I never click on those or sponsored links. Train your brain to not click those.

And NYT has an entire section devoted to high-end items you can buy from that billionaire.

@karlbode.com @kenwhite.bsky.social Affiliate links are a hell of a drug

Every goddamn day @huffpost.com posts multiple articles on items you can only get from Amazon - while they *also* beg you for money and claim to "not work for billionaires". Hypocrites.

Right? I don't get this coverage!! Do they do it for other retailers (which would still be strange) or is it just for Amazon?

Cancelled Prime and haven't bought from Amazon in months. The best thing we could do is ignore Prime Day.

I can’t remember the last time I actually bought something on prime day. I might check a handful of large items I planned on purchasing anyway just to see if the price dropped (it never does), but that’s about it.

Just like local police everywhere will ignore shoplifting of local stores but run a major PR and crime prevention campaign every Christmas against ”porch pirates” to assist Amazon’s killing local retail.

The number of PRs I've seen pitching stories relating to Prime Week is absurd. And PRs massively outnumber journalists, which doesn't help.

I was thinking the exact same thing! It's the unavoidable toxicity of capitalism. All of these entities need to make money and if getting people to click on affiliate links to pimp products for Bezos does that, so be it.

it's clear all of the folks in charge just want to create this lazy badly automated ouroboros that shits ad engagement cash, and they couldn't care less about labor, audience, brand degradation, or whether any of this is a good idea

As you said below, id be more forgiving if prime day still were a cultural phenomenon worth reporting on, but alas its not

I think they also change prices based on views. Plus I once bought a "only 1 left in stock" item only to look back at it and see it was absolutely still in stock and being sold. They are SHADY

"Consume! Consume! Buy more Prime because we make mone from it!"

Wired even decided it was fun to be cheeky about it bsky.app/profile/wire...

it's even more often now! they had a "Big Spring Sale" in April this year (which I know because I put together a 4K Blu-ray roundup)

see also: influencers and sponcon (is that still being enforced at all?)