Dangerous ad going around on Tumblr ⚠️
For those who are unaware, there's been ads for a/i chat/bots going around on Tumblr. Specifically for "shapes.inc".
Obviously this is immediately worrying as chat/bots prey on low mental wellbeing, loneliness and someone's desire to interact, to then make them dependant and use their services more.
However, the ads themselves have stopped being quiet about that aspect. Here's one of the most worrying ads (aside the one that legitimately encourages users to make chat/bots of their friends' OCs without their consent, while also trying to claim that its "ethically sourced" - not telling us WHAT'S even sourced here - and therefore "guilt free".)
This is disgusting, plain and simple.
Not only is it directly preying on loneliness outright - it's encouraging a user to make a bot out of someone real without their consent. Not even a friend, no - a MUTUAL. It's encouraging parasocial dependency - just LOOK at what the "OP" is saying here: "RESPOND" "DID YOU DIE?" "PLEASE" "I MISS YOU".
It's not just encouraging parasocial behaviours nor just dependency overall, but encouraging users to breach the others' privacy just so they can pretend they're speaking to them.
Ads like this should not be allowed anywhere. Tumblr needs to get rid of it outright before someone gets hurt.
Also, the censoring is to avoid search exploit spambots. Thank you.