Today in targeted ads with poor aim:

Once again I'm left with the vaguely disappointing impression that the Facebook algorithm doesn't even know me. I mean, look at this ad it threw at me:

Why even watch? For the lavish costumes and sumptuous set design?

I assume they're paid? For all I know,
they could just be people with far, 
far too much time on their hands

Yeah, it's an app that edits streaming TV for you. I'd never heard about this so I had to investigate and it's exactly you'd think it is: a service that you subscribe to, which, once you've plugged in your streaming accounts, cuts out all the naughty bits. What constitutes a naughty-bit you might reasonable ask? Violence, sex, nudity, you know, all the "won't someone please think of the children?" stuff. You can adjust the settings and even eliminate specific swears. I guess it does this by paying people to preview and then flag material someone might find objectionable. But that's censorship! you exclaim.

I honestly mean no offense when I say
this, but you guys kind of stand out...

Ok, maybe you didn't exclaim that. Which is good, because it's not. Censorship I mean. I think that word gets thrown around a lot. Usually by politicians who want to say racist shit on twitter and not be called out on it. I think for something to qualify as censorship, it has to be carried out some kind of authority, or institution, like a government or a school or something. This is just a bunch of Mormons trying to sell an app. Sorry, I just assumed they're Mormons. Which is unfair. Correct, but unfair.

They're from Utah and run a business that bleeps swears out of movies. I was just doing the math. Oh, and also they produce a series called The Chosen. It's about Jesus...who's looking remarkably white for a first century Judean. 

Although, incidentally, did they think this all the way through?
I don't want to spoil anything, but some viewers might want to 
fire up that filter for the series finale...

Like a GameGenie for movies.
Except it makes them less fun...

Speaking of Jesus, neither the Bible nor the Book of Mormon have any specific rules against pirating intellectual property, so VidAngel's--that's the company--original business model was to rip DVD's, edit them, and then stream them to customers. And this worked great until Disney and Warner Bros. sued the ever-living swearword out of them. They settled, and now they just insert themselves between the streaming services and the customer.

According to their site they're pro-free expression and their app lets customers control what they watch. Which, I mean, I feel like if you don't want to see Regency-era rich people bone down, then maybe Bridgerton isn't for you? But whatever. What I do want to know is why Facebook even bothers tracking my internet behavior and gathering my personal information if the best they can do is to try and sell me a Mormon dick-bluring app.

There are other ways to control what you watch. Ways that don't cost $9.99 per month.