Many marketers assume that users will trade their data in exchange for ads that are highly specific to their interests.
The principle behind this assumption may be fading as ad platforms have come under scrutiny for their cavalier approach to data security. Sure, people may be more likely to “engage” with an ad that highlights one of their personal interests. But many folks are not amused by how the ad targeting sausage gets made, now that perpetual news stories about Russian troll farms and data leakage have propelled the mechanics of ad tech into the spotlight. In an April survey of 1,051 US adult internet users by Janrain, most respondents said they are not in favor of websites or apps using what they learn about them online to target ads.
Nearly 70% of those polled said they would like to see the US enact a law similar to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which states that a user’s data can only be used if they give a company permission to do so. The provision of the GDPR that respondents most wanted to see applied in the US is an individual’s right to ask companies to delete the data they have collected. Read the rest at eMarketer.
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