6th September, 2022. From The Conversation.
The rise of online advertising has led to “dark advertising”, where ads can only be seen by the individuals being targeted, no one knows how, when, where or why the ads appear, and the ads are data-driven, meaning they target people most likely to use the advertised product the most.
To examine just how dark “dark advertising” is, researchers audited the transparency of seven major digital platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. They found that none of the major digital platforms are transparent enough for the public to understand what advertising they publish, and how it is targeted.
The research highlights the importance of the advertising model of social and digital media platforms being open to public scrutiny and accountability. “Without this information, it is difficult to understand who is being targeted with advertising on these platforms. For example, we can’t be sure companies selling harmful and addictive products aren’t targeting children or people recovering from addiction. Platforms and advertisers ask us to simply trust them,”.
Professor Nicholas Carah and colleagues wrote in The Conversation article about the research.
Link to the original article: https://theconversation.com/how-dark-is-dark-advertising-we-audited-facebook-google-and-other-platforms-to-find-out-189310.
Find the article in our website: https://eucam.info/2022/09/22/advertisements-on-digital-platforms-how-transparent-and-observable-are-they/.