AdTech - short for advertising technology - is a catch-all term that describes the tools and services behind the ads that appear online. The industry is notorious for its bad practices of extensive data exploitation.
AdTech connects companies who want to advertise their products (advertisers) with websites and apps looking to sell advertising space (publishers) and their target audiences (you!). It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry that has been responsible for how the internet has evolved and has been heavily criticised for the intrusiveness of its data gathering practices.
The AdTech industry has created an ecosystem where your and your loved ones' data is treated as a commodity. This isn’t just about what ads you see, but who is tracking you, what purposes they are collecting and processing that data for, and even how online content is written and presented to you.
At Privacy International, we advocate for a future where online ads do not rely on tracking, and where people can safely and easily use the internet without giving up their privacy.
Online AdTech systems are exponentially more invasive than other traditional forms of advertising (such as broadcast, billboards and newspapers). That's because it's targeted at YOU: the specific and particular person who is on that website or using that app right now.
Targeted advertising depends on massive amounts of data about you being collected, combined and shared. This means that almost everything you do online is being watched by the AdTech industry. The websites you visit, the links you click on, the searches you make, the apps that you use, the videos you watch, the things you buy, how much time you spend on a website, the movements of your cursor, where you go, and more... These are all being collected, collated and used to build up a profile of who you are and what you are most likely to buy (e.g., "Alcohol at Home Heavy Spenders" or "Baby Nappies & Wipes"). These profiles allow AdTech companies to exploit your data for their bottom line: they mean that advertisers can go after very specific groups of people, and that what you're seeing online was targeted personally to you.
The AdTech industry is vast, complex and leaky. One of the most important tracking technologies in the AdTech toolkit is tracking cookies, which are trackers embedded in your device or browser that can collect information about you as you visit different websites. The process known as real time bidding (RTB) is another particularly important part of today's AdTech.
People are routinely dismayed and upset to see just how much information AdTech companies have about their behaviour, their interests and their demographics.
That creepy feeling of being watched when an eerily relevant ad pops up? Well, that has some basis in reality. AdTech has made online tracking and profiling virtually inescapable. And the ecosystem is so complex and embedded into our digital lives that it has become almost impossible to know where your data ends up.
AdTech might mean singling you out because you've been searching the symptoms of depression, looking up needing a payday loan next month or that you're expecting a child. And this personalized advertising can even provide the groundwork for predatory behaviour.
This is often all happening without users having any real control over when and how their data is shared and re-purposed. Cookie banners are frustrating and overwhelming at best and misleading and ineffective at worst. Data can easily get into the hands of data brokers who further repackage and sell that data to actors outside the AdTech world (including political actors, law enforcement and nefarious campaign groups). And it is extremely difficult and time-consuming to opt out of this tracking.
This data is also shared with innumerable third parties, which can create a huge security risk if that data is breached or insufficiently protected by someone you never knew had it to start with. The data shared can be very personal. For example, Grindr - the gay dating app - shared people’s HIV status with two analytics companies. We've also previously found several period tracking apps shared users' intimate menstruation data with Facebook.
AdTech creates all of these harms and risks for the average everyday internet user, without their knowledge, consent, or control.
Our view is that much of what takes place within the AdTech industry is in breach of data protection law. Our work to hold key actors accountable has included:
We've also produced a set of guides to help you fight back against online tracking. These cover a range of topics such as how to block ads on both your phone and your laptop, starting with straightforward changes to settings and installing plugins, to more advanced DNS level ad-blocking.
More information about how Bounty illegally exploited the data of 14 million mothers and babies: https://pvcy.org/podillegalexploitation
Sign up to our corporate exploitation email list to find out more about our work on brands and the advertising supply chain: https://pvcy.org
The ministerial Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in the UK recently ran a consultation to review the regulatory framework for paid-for online advertising. The aim according to DCMS is "to tackle the evident lack of transparency and accountability across the whole supply chain."
PI has long been concerned about the online advertising industry, particularly the harm caused by adtech companies and data brokers in the advertising supply chain. PI welcomed the opportunity to respond to the Online Advertising Programme (OAP) consultation.
