Social media platforms are transforming how online advertising works
and, in turn, raising concerns about new forms of discrimination and predatory
marketing. Today the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and
Society (ADM+S) — a multi-university entity led by RMIT — launched
the Australian Ad Observatory. This research project will explore how
platforms target Australian users with ads. The goal is to foster a
conversation about the need for public transparency in online advertising.
The rise of ‘dark ads’ In the mass media era, advertising was (for the
most part) public. This meant it was open to scrutiny. When advertisers behaved
illegally or irresponsibly, the results were there for many to see.
And the history of advertising is riddled with irresponsible behavior.
We’ve witnessed tobacco and alcohol companies engage in the predatory targeting
of women, underage people, and socially disadvantaged communities. We’ve seen
the use of sexist and racist stereotypes. More recently, the circulation of
misinformation has become a major concern.
When such practices take place in the open, they can be responded to by
media watchdogs, citizens, and regulators. On the other hand, the rise of
online advertising — which is tailored to individuals and delivered on personal
devices — reduces public accountability. These so-called “dark ads”
are visible only to the targeted user. They are hard to track, since an ad may
only appear a few times before disappearing. Also, the user doesn’t know
whether the ads they see are being shown to others, or whether they are being
singled out based on their identity data.
Severe consequences There’s a lack of transparency surrounding the
automated systems Facebook employs to target users with ads, as well
as recommendations it provides to advertisers. In 2017 investigative
journalists at ProPublica were able to purchase a test ad
on Facebook targeting users associated with the term “Jew
hater”. In response to the attempted ad purchase, Facebook’s automated system
suggested additional targeting categories including “how to burn
Jews”. Facebook removed the categories after being confronted
with the findings. Without the scrutiny of the investigators, might they have
endured indefinitely? Researchers’ concern about dark ads continues to grow. In
the past, Facebook has made it possible to advertise housing, credit,
and employment based on race, gender, and age.
This year it was found delivering targeted ads for military gear
alongside posts about the attack on the US Capitol. It also enabled ads targeting African
Americans during the 2016 US presidential campaign to suppress voter
turnout. Public support for transparency It’s not always clear whether such
offenses are deliberate or not. Nevertheless, they’ve become a feature of the
extensive automated ad-targeting systems used by commercial digital platforms,
and the opportunity for harm is ever-present — deliberate or otherwise.
Most examples of problematic Facebook advertising come from
the United States, as this is where the bulk of research on this issue is
conducted. But it’s equally important to scrutinize the issue in other
countries, including in Australia. And Australians agree. Research
published on Tuesday and conducted by Essential Media (on behalf of
the ADM+S Centre) has revealed strong support for transparency in advertising.
More than three-quarters of Australian Facebook users
responded Facebook “should be more transparent about how it
distributes advertising on its news feed”.
With this goal in mind, the Australian Ad Observatory developed
a version of an online tool created by ProPublica to let members of
the public anonymously share the ads they receive on Facebook with
reporters and researchers. The tool will allow us to see how ads are being
targeted to Australians based on demographic characteristics such as
age, ethnicity, and income. It is available as a free plugin for anyone to
install on their web browser (and can be removed or disabled at any time).
Importantly, the plug-in does not collect any personally identifying information.
Participants are invited to provide some basic, non-identifying, demographic
information when they install it, but this is voluntary. The plug-in only
captures the text and images in ads labeled as “sponsored content”
which appear in users’ news feeds.
Facebook’s online ad library does provide some level of visibility into
its targeted ad practices — but this isn’t comprehensive. The ad library only
provides limited information about how ads are targeted and exclude some ads
based on the number of people reached. It’s also not reliable as an archive,
since the ads disappear when no longer in use. The need for public interest
research Despite its past failings, Facebook has been hostile towards
outsider attempts to ensure accountability. For example, it recently demanded
researchers at New York University discontinue their research into
how political ads are targeted on Facebook. When they
refused, Facebook cut off their access to its platform. The tech
company claimed it had to ban the research because it was bound by a settlement
with the United States’ Federal Trade Commission over past privacy
violations. However, the Federal Trade Commission publicly rejected
this claim and emphasized its support for public interest research intended
“to shed light on opaque business practices, especially around
surveillance-based advertising”. Platforms should be required to provide
universal transparency for how they advertise. Until this happens, projects
like the Australian Ad Observatory plugin can help provide some
accountability. To participate, or for more information, visit the website.
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