Yes but the point is not to ensure that you know that you're interacting with a human. The point is for whoever paid for the ad to know that a real human is seeing it (and not, for instance, and AI in a docker container).
That's a good point, thanks. I interpreted "sell you the cure to the disease they created" as selling it to the public, but I'm sure advertisers would love to make Fifteen Million Merits a reality.
Or the tried-and-true method of trusting only friends, friends of friends, recommendations from friends, etc.