I find the motives of adtech darker than those of intelligence, especially when adtech intersects with dark patterns and driving addiction. I’ve seen what this can do to people, especially teens but adults too.
Intelligence at least nominally is supposed to be protecting me. Yes I realize there’s corruption and loose cannon agendas, but those are not its official reason to exist. Adtech on the other hand has the explicit goal of making me addicted, dumb, and poor. The corruption and ill intent isn’t an aberration due to poor oversight. It’s the point of the whole endeavor.
Even worse it targets my kids. Modern parenting is an endless battle to keep the kids out of obvious adtech and social media addiction funnels.
If the intelligence community is trying to buy from adtech, it’s because adtech is actually ahead in these areas. The darkest programs in intelligence history like MKUltra are less effective than what can be achieved with a smart phone, a dopamine loop, cute videos, and notifications.
Wow, I hadn't heard Google changed their mission statement. /s
No, adtech has the explicit goal of increasing revenue by increasing impressions on ads. Whether you become addicted, dumb, and/or poor as a result is considered an acceptable risk.