GitHub backs down, kills Copilot pull-request ads after backlash
by _____k on 3/31/2026, 5:11:24 AM
https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/30/github_copilot_ads_pull_requests/
Comments
by: yosamino
Calling advertisements "product tips" as if everybody is too stupid to understand what that means.<p>They created an amazing technology that oftentimes is indistinguishable from magic and then use it to deliver ads and - sorry about the tangent - kill people.<p>This really is the quote of the century:<p>> The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads<p>What a waste.
3/31/2026, 6:04:01 AM
by: scbrg
"You're just a bunch of fanatic, Linux obsessed Microsoft haters living in the past. Microsoft are the good guys now."<p>-- ca. everyone here, during the GitHub acquisition
3/31/2026, 6:04:52 AM
by: bilekas
> We identified a programming logic issue with a GitHub Copilot coding agent tip that surfaced in the wrong context within a pull request comment. We have removed agent tips from pull request comments moving forward.<p>Why does this read as they are saying it was a mistake ? Because it absolutely wasn't, and it will absolutely happen again, maybe just less obvious next time.
3/31/2026, 7:48:08 AM
by: aurareturn
Microsoft is seriously the worst offender in shoving AI down everyone's throats.<p>I'm pro-AI adoption but the way Microsoft distastefully forces Copilot into everything is how you get people to hate AI.<p>I’m guessing product teams are told by upper management to AI-fy every product they own. Teams are then rushed to just get something out there whether they make sense or not.
3/31/2026, 5:45:08 AM
by: Animats
Microsoft will probably try to sneak it back in later. They've done that with other intrusions.<p>Migrating away from Github just increased in priority.
3/31/2026, 5:55:59 AM
by: crvdgc
> GitHub does not and does not plan to include advertisements in GitHub<p>They already did! <a href="https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/65245" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/65245</a>
3/31/2026, 7:19:48 AM
by: yakshaving_jgt
I wonder if the PM responsible for this will be held accountable. Who should resign?<p>I'm guessing the answers will be predictable and disappointing.
3/31/2026, 8:23:12 AM
by: heipei
I just saw the headline fly by yesterday and thought that this was just another dumb bug in what is the slow decline of GitHub. To find out today that this was very much intentional is even worse.
3/31/2026, 6:29:14 AM
by: xfactorial
I understand "free services" eventually come to the conclusion of either charging or using ads to finance and even make money out of them.<p>I believe there are two caveats on it:<p>1. Approach: to make the experience worth it, so that ads are not very intrusive , done correctly, which, over and over and over, it is proven contrarious to the interest of the user.<p>2. Relevance: if you are going to put ads onto your product, make sure things are done correctly, curate if possible what will be shown (I believe Microsoft's worse fear would be to see online casinos ads onto something like GitHub, as an example).
3/31/2026, 7:59:42 AM
by: dagi3d
And what about the companies that thought that advertising (sorry, suggesting) their product through this channel was a good idea?
3/31/2026, 8:00:34 AM
by: akmarinov
Remember when they wanted to charge for self hosted runners and “backed down”, let’s see how long it lasts
3/31/2026, 6:36:26 AM
by: devsda
So, after Windows cleanup announcement nobody at Github thought "may be we should review all our copilot integrations to avoid another embarrassment for MS" ?<p>That shows either it was just a Windows org announcement and not a culture change at MS or it was just an empty promise to temporarily deflect mounting criticism.<p>Either way it is disappointment for anyone who thought it was a genuine case of introspection and change of heart at MS.
3/31/2026, 6:41:15 AM
by: puppycodes
I'm not suprised Raycast is involved in this marketing scheme. They pollute their own product with ads where they shouldn't be. Whoever is running their marketing team needs a lesson in not pissing off your userbase.
3/31/2026, 7:12:48 AM
by: BLKNSLVR
"OK guys, back to the drawing board. How can we market this better? How long do we wait until this WILL fly under the radar?"
3/31/2026, 8:01:46 AM
by: altmanaltman
> Hearing feedback from the community following Manson's post and the kerfuffle it generated, Rogers said, has helped him realize that "on reflection," letting Copilot make changes to PRs written by a human without their knowledge "was the wrong judgement call."<p>Thankfully, they need the community feedback to realize it was wrong. It was so hard to guess it was wrong without the feedback! It's good to know these people are in charge of building Copilot.
3/31/2026, 6:04:56 AM
by: aquir
I would be curious what Raycast’s reaction is. They just got caught in the crossfire or they deliberately bought ads to be placed with Copilot
3/31/2026, 6:16:37 AM
by: shortercode
Push push push. When your customers are livid at you take a small step back. Wait for a moment then come back at them from another angle.<p>I hate this philosophy. But it’s seems to be the preferred path for Microsoft.
3/31/2026, 7:33:46 AM
by: nubinetwork
> GitHub does not and does not plan to include advertisements in GitHub<p>For another six months.
3/31/2026, 7:45:58 AM
by: plagiarist
First of all, I find it enraging that dimwitted AI companies decided to edit PR descriptions for anything at all.
3/31/2026, 6:23:20 AM
by: Dansvidania
the microsoft playbook
3/31/2026, 6:17:43 AM
by: shevy-java
The problem is that Microslop is not THINKING. What is the point of inserting ads? That just increases the spam output. Sure, Microslop may think this helps boost their revenue but many people hate ad-spam. After I started to use ublock origin, there was no way back to the unsafe ads-down-the-turtles approach anymore. Ads waste people's time and money.
3/31/2026, 6:04:30 AM
by: synack
Yet Sourceforge has been putting ads on open source projects for decades.
3/31/2026, 6:13:36 AM