Why Russian Language ads?
 

I am currently traveling in Western Europe. I see a ton of apparently Russian language ads as embedded “threads”. E.g.,


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c2e3f5da2.jpeg

Google translate tells me this is an add for investment services in Abu Dhabi.



https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...df81a0f56.jpeg
I am not in Russia, don’t speak Russian, don’t use a Russian-language device.

Who are these ads targeting?

Those are an ad placement that, similar to banner ads on the top and sides of the page, pulls from a selection of fill options based on bidding, the person browsing, geolocation, and some other factors. I'm guessing a Russian company is targeting Russian-speakers in Western Europe, likely their diaspora.

I follow (what I believe is) your line of thinking that it's a hilariously blatant scam. I will see if we can pull it from circulation.

I spent most of the month of May in Italy and, understandably I suppose, the ads that appeared on the site were in Italian. I returned to the USA on Tuesday and am currently still seeing about 50% of the ads in Italian.

How long is this likely to persist?
Is there a way, other than moving to Italy, to continue seeing all ads in Italian? (I’d like to practice attempting to decipher them.)

I imagine using a VPN with a server in Italy should allow you to continue seeing them.

I don't know. I would assume there's just some kind of cached data or cookies still on your browser

FT doesn’t like VPNs, though.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/tech...pn-thread.html

Cloudflare blocks individual servers that it (rightly or wrongly) correlates with ddos potential. If you find that your IP address is blocked, just try a few more.

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Hehe. We spent May in Austria and Germany. Still getting ads for DB/OBB. Not sure whether to feel nostalgia or annoyance.