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When you search for “mastodon” in the iPhone App Store, the top result is an ad for Truth Social #enshittification

Eugen Rochko

@micahflee It's a shame there is seemingly nothing you can do as the app owner to stop this. Maybe buying your own ad for your own keyword, but we don't have money to spend on that.

@Gargron yeah. Apple selling ads that appear first when people search for the name of your app is unethical, and also just makes the experience of iPhones worse

@micahflee @Gargron It's a terrible user experience, and would have never been allowed if the Human Factors practice had remained. Man, they've bummed me out so much over the past 20 years. Man, I'm old. 🤣

@Gargron @micahflee From my point of view (I’m not a lawyer, just a regular user), I consider it a form of misleading advertising. It's one thing to search for "social" and see other sponsored social networks appear first, but if I specifically search for the word "Mastodon" and they show something that isn’t Mastodon, it’s an attempt to bypass the user’s choices. It would be different if they said, "You might also like..."

@stefano @Gargron @micahflee It’s an ad for an app targeted for that keyword. Throw more money on it than the competition and you get the top position. Same game as everywhere else. Not that I think this is ethical, but it’s legal.
(edit: typo)

@Linkshaender @stefano @gargron @micahflee

Is it? Company and product names usually count as "trade mark".

"Google AdWords amounts to infringement of Interflora's rights in such trade marks."

"found that Article 5(1)(a) and (b) of Directive 89/104 and Article 9(1)(a) and (b) of Regulation No 40/94 allow proprietors of trade marks to prohibit any third parties from using signs identical or similar to their trademarks for goods or services."

linksandlaw.com/news-update71-

www.linksandlaw.comThe ECJ and the AdWords CasesThe ECJ and the AdWords Cases

@Linkshaender @stefano @gargron @micahflee

Google: "We abide by local trademark laws and protect the rights of trademark owners, so we don’t allow ads that infringe trademark rights. […] We will restrict:
* If the trademark is used in an ad from a direct competitor
* If the ad is using the trademark in a confusing, deceptive, or misleading way"

support.google.com/adspolicy/a

At least for Germany, I am pretty certain that company names can be seen as "trademarked", without further registration.

support.google.comTrademarks - Advertising Policies HelpGoogle provides translated versions of our Help Center, though they are not meant to change the content of our policies. The English version is the official language we use to enforce our poli

@gamambel @stefano @Gargron @micahflee Mastodon *is* a trademark ("Wortmarke"), but (disclaimer: as Stefano, I‘m not a lawyer, this is not legal advice and a layman’s opinion) the key clause is "use as a trademark" and there are interesting aspects, e.g. vonmuensterlegal.com/using-com
As the AppStore example shows this might not be enforced everywhere. Otherwise we shouldn’t see T.S at the top position. Law is like chess sometimes 😎

von Muenster Legal · Can I use competitor trade marks in SEO? | VML KnowledgeRecent case law shows that using a competitor’s trade mark to get a boost from online searches may expose companies to legal liability.

@Linkshaender @stefano @gargron @micahflee Thanks. Yes, probably complex and expensive and maybe not even successful to fight in court regarding legality. But filing complaints with Apple and Google cannot hurt. At least with Truth Social, it is definitely a 'direct competitor'.

@Linkshaender @gamambel @stefano @Gargron @micahflee quoting: "Advertisers can only use the competitor’s name/trade mark in a descriptive way, and not as indicating a badge of origin. The risk is reduced in the case of SEO, where the designated keywords aren’t seen by consumers." So basically ok if used to extort businesses for ad placement, and mislead consumers along the way. Perhaps not the realm of copyright, but rather consumer protection.

@stefano @Gargron @micahflee it’s completely inexcusable in this political environment. Apple has really lost the plot and I hope they figure it out very soon.

@Gargron > Maybe buying your own ad for your own keyword

That is usually the practice that most of my clients use. It's terrible to spend money on your own organic search, but that's how it works. 🤷‍♂️

@Gargron @micahflee

Positive: Mastodon is relevant. The marketing folks on Truth Social are spending money to compete with you.

I doubt that many people who search for "Mastodon" will end up installing Truth Social.

@Gargron @micahflee

>> Maybe buying your own ad for your own keyword, but we don't have money to spend on that.

Based on Truth Social's financials and stock prices they might not have the money for that soon either. 🙂

@Gargron @micahflee maybe starting to giving massively bad reviews …
At least in my country mastodon is listed ok :)

@Gargron @micahflee you could view this incident as a PR opportunity, and write about it in the blogosphere, in terms of ethics, capitalism, post-twitterism, enshittification, and all what attracts Target Mastodon users. This would work as a positive story about Mastodon because the user bases are practically diametrically opposed.