Apple compromised on its principles by partnering with Taboola, a veritable fount of scammy and untrustworthy ads, and Apple's consumers are now having to contend with the result: a deluge of shoddy advertisements on Apple News.
Apple News ads appear to be deteriorating by the day in terms of quality
The veteran tech journalist, Kirk McElhearn, has just penned an interesting post, titled "I Now Assume that All Ads on Apple News Are Scams."
For the benefit of those who might not be aware, Apple struck a deal with Taboola, one of the largest ad-tech companies in the world, back in 2024. Under the terms of the deal, Taboola was to drive native advertisement within Apple News and Apple Stocks apps.
Since then, however, as per McElhearn's assessment, ads on Apple News have only gotten worse. Do note that, unlike most subscription models, Apple does not remove ads if you subscribe to the Apple News+ tier. Even so, the subscription does remove paywalls from a lot of publications.
According to McElhearn, some of the ads are not only sloppily generated via AI, but they are also downright scammy. For instance, an ad from Tidenox shows an AI-generated image of an elderly woman, replete with the Google Gemini logo at the bottom. The ad follows the now-trite scheme of a business that is shutting down and offering steep discounts as an inventory-clearing pathway. The unlucky few who do order typically never receive their merchandise.
Many of the ads that McElhearn identifies got their domains registered only recently, some as soon as last month. This is another potent red flag.
Of course, this discourse boils down to a simple question: is Apple morally obligated to engage in at least a pretense of sifting through the ads on its platforms? We already know there is no such legal obligation. In the meantime, the gig continues.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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