{"id":299313,"date":"2021-07-14T16:35:29","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T13:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/its-not-just-political-ads-that-are-made-to-divide-us\/"},"modified":"2021-07-14T16:35:29","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T13:35:29","slug":"its-not-just-political-ads-that-are-made-to-divide-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/its-not-just-political-ads-that-are-made-to-divide-us\/","title":{"rendered":"#It\u2019s not just political ads that are made to divide us"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3ac4138f901\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3ac4138f901\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/its-not-just-political-ads-that-are-made-to-divide-us\/#Regulating_adverts\" >Regulating adverts<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/its-not-just-political-ads-that-are-made-to-divide-us\/#Digging_deeper\" >Digging deeper<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#It\u2019s not just political ads that are made to divide us<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>Five years since the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2021\/06\/23\/uk\/brexit-five-years-on-analysis-intl-cmd\/index.html\">Brexit vote<\/a> and three since the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/video\/2018\/mar\/19\/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-cambridge-analytica-expose-video-explainer\">Cambridge Analytica scandal<\/a>, we\u2019re now familiar with the role that targeted political advertising can play in fomenting <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/heres-what-happens-when-political-bubbles-collide-121856\">polarisation<\/a>. It was <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/04\/us\/politics\/cambridge-analytica-scandal-fallout.html\">revealed<\/a> in 2018 that Cambridge Analytica had used data harvested from 87 million <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> profiles, without users\u2019 consent, to help Donald Trump\u2019s 2016 election campaign target key voters with online adverts.<\/p>\n<p>In the years since, we\u2019ve learned how these kinds of targeted adverts can create political <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/28556\/filter-bubble\">filter bubbles<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/23423\/echo-chamber\">echo chambers<\/a>, suspected of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1177\/0266382117722446?casa_token=2ayQdG9GskoAAAAA%3ArSCq4yOZ5x33tVexv0EX4jPRqQ7SNCK7z8Pfm42ooHea4Y_VdILuTGVEe7lC3CqJg8Cv1QM9mOx43g&amp;journalCode=bira\">dividing people<\/a> and increasing the circulation of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/10584609.2021.1910887?journalCode=upcp20\">harmful disinformation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But the vast majority of the ads exchanged online are commercial, not political. Commercial targeted advertising is the primary source of revenue in the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20140509-how-much-is-your-facebook-worth\">internet economy<\/a>, but we know little about how it affects us. We know our personal data is collected to support targeted advertising in a way that <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/explainer-what-is-surveillance-capitalism-and-how-does-it-shape-our-economy-119158\">violates our privacy<\/a>. But aside from privacy considerations, how else might targeting be harming us \u2013 and how could these harms be prevented?<\/p>\n<p>These questions motivated <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s42256-021-00358-3\">our recent research<\/a>. We found that online targeted advertising also divides and isolates us by preventing us from collectively flagging ads we object to. We do this in the physical world (perhaps when we see an advert at a bus stop or train station) by alerting regulators to harmful content. But online consumers are isolated because the information they see is limited to what is targeted at them.<\/p>\n<p>Until we address this flaw, preventing targeted adverts from isolating us from the feedback of others, regulators won\u2019t be able to protect us from online adverts that could cause us harm.<\/p>\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What is the Cambridge Analytica scandal?\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q91nvbJSmS4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/figure>\n<p>Due to the sheer volume of ads exchanged online, human supervisors cannot vet each campaign. So increasingly, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/technology\/ibm-explores-ai-tools-spot-cut-bias-online-ad-targeting-2021-06-24\/\">machine learning algorithms<\/a> screen the content of ads, predicting the likelihood that they may be harmful or fail to conform to standards. But these predictions can be <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/blogs\/research\/2018\/02\/mitigating-bias-ai-models\/\">biased<\/a>, and they typically only ban the clearest violations. Among the many ads that pass these controls, a significant portion still contains potentially harmful content.<\/p>\n<p>Traditionally, advertising standards authorities have taken a reactive <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roach to regulate advertising, relying upon consumer complaints. Take the 2015 case of Protein World\u2019s \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.campaignlive.co.uk\/article\/asa-bans-protein-world-ad-launches-social-responsibility-probe\/1345269?src_site=marketingmagazine\">Beach Body<\/a>\u201d campaign, which was displayed across the London Underground on billboards featuring a bikini-clad model next to the words: \u201cAre you beach body ready?\u201d Many commuters <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asa.org.uk\/rulings\/protein-world-ltd-a15-300099.html#.VZNwQ_ldWiQ\">complained<\/a>, saying that it promoted harmful stereotypes. Shortly after, the ad was <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2015\/apr\/29\/beach-body-ready-ad-faces-formal-inquiry-as-campaign-sparks-outrage\">banned<\/a> and a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asa.org.uk\/resource\/depictions-perceptions-and-harm.html\">public probe<\/a> into socially responsible advertising was launched.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Regulating_adverts\"><\/span>Regulating adverts<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The Protein World case illustrates how regulators work. Because they respond to consumer complaints, the regulator is open to considering how adverts conflict with perceived social norms. As social norms evolve over time, this helps regulators keep up with what the public considers to be harmful.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Protein World&#8217;s controversial Are You Beach Body Ready? ad cannot appear in its current form <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CVdVCqLDJQ\">http:\/\/t.co\/CVdVCqLDJQ<\/a><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TCfPKTKqyU\">pic.twitter.com\/TCfPKTKqyU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 British Vogue (@BritishVogue) <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BritishVogue\/status\/593819614829654019?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 30, 2015<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Consumers complained about the ad because they felt it promoted and normalized a harmful message. But it was reported that only <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-33340301\">378 commuters<\/a> raised complaints with the regulator, of the hundreds of thousands likely to have seen them. This raises the question: what about all the others? If the campaign had taken place online, people wouldn\u2019t have seen posters defaced by disgruntled commuters and they may not have been prompted to question its message.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more, if the ad could have been targeted to just the subset of consumers most receptive to its message, they might not have raised any complaints. As a result, the harmful message would have gone unchallenged, missing an opportunity for the regulator to update their guidelines in keeping with current social norms.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes ads are harmful in a specific context, as when ads for high-fat-content foods are targeted to children, or when gambling ads target those who suffer from a gambling addiction. Targeted ads can also harm by omission. This is the case, for example, if ads for shoes crowd out job ads or public health announcements that someone might find more useful or even vital.<\/p>\n<p>These cases can be described as contextual harms: they\u2019re not tied to specific content, but rather depend on the context in which the ad is presented to the consumer.<\/p>\n<p>Machine learning algorithms are bad at identifying contextual harms. On the contrary, the way targeting works actually amplifies them. Several <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/ftp\/arxiv\/papers\/2008\/2008.09656.pdf\">audits<\/a>, for example, have uncovered how Facebook has allowed <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2020\/08\/28\/ai-weekly-facebooks-discriminatory-ad-targeting-illustrates-the-dangers-of-biased-algorithms\/\">discriminatory targeting<\/a> that worsens socioeconomic inequalities.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Digging_deeper\"><\/span>Digging deeper<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The root cause of all these issues can be traced to the fact that consumers have a very isolated experience online. We call this a state of \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s42256-021-00358-3\">epistemic fragmentation<\/a>\u201d, where the information available to each individual is limited to what is targeted at them, without the opportunity to compare with others in a shared space like the London Underground.<\/p>\n<p>Because of personalized targeting, each of us sees different ads. This makes us more vulnerable. Ads can play on our personal vulnerabilities, or they can withhold opportunities from us that we never knew existed. Because we don\u2019t know what other users are seeing, our ability to look out for other vulnerable people is also limited.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, regulators are adopting a combination of two strategies to address these challenges. First, we see an increasing focus on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/privacyinternational.org\/explainer\/2828\/how-minimise-targeted-ads-social-media-instagram-which-owned-facebook\">educating consumers<\/a> to give them \u201ccontrol\u201d over how they\u2019re targeted. Second, there\u2019s a push towards monitoring ad campaigns proactively, automating screening mechanisms before ads are published online. Both of these strategies are too limited.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, we should focus on restoring the role of consumers as active participants in the regulation of online advertising. This could be achieved by blunting the precision of targeting categories, by instituting targeting quotas, or by banning targeting altogether. This would ensure that at least a portion of online ads are seen by more diverse consumers, in a shared context where objections to them can be raised and shared.<\/p>\n<p>In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, efforts were made by <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.electoralcommission.org.uk\/who-we-are-and-what-we-do\/changing-electoral-law\/transparent-digital-campaigning\">The Electoral Commission<\/a> to prise open the hidden world of targeted political ads in the run up to the UK\u2019s 2019 election. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.channel4.com\/news\/factcheck\/factcheck-conservatives-admit-ads-in-key-marginal-seats-are-wrong\">Some broadcasters<\/a> asked their audience to send in targeted ads on their social media feeds, in order to share them with a wider audience. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/technology-50726500\">Campaign groups<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.lse.ac.uk\/medialse\/2019\/12\/12\/online-political-advertising-in-the-uk-2019-general-election-campaign\/\">academics<\/a> were able to analyze targeting campaigns in greater detail, exposing where ads could be harmful or untrue.<\/p>\n<p>These strategies could also be used for commercial targeted advertising, which would break the epistemic fragmentation that currently prevents us from collectively responding to harmful adverts. Our research shows it\u2019s not just political targeting that produces harm \u2013 commercial targeting requires our attention too.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important;margin: 0 !important;max-height: 1px !important;max-width: 1px !important;min-height: 1px !important;min-width: 1px !important;padding: 0 !important\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/163669\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\"\/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important;margin: 0 !important;max-height: 1px !important;max-width: 1px !important;min-height: 1px !important;min-width: 1px !important;padding: 0 !important\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/163669\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"\" srcset=\"\"\/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><em>Article by <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/silvia-milano-1246374\">Silvia Milano<\/a>, Postdoctoral Researcher in AI Ethics, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/university-of-oxford-1260\">University of Oxford<\/a>; <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/brent-mittelstadt-427363\">Brent Mittelstadt<\/a>, Research Fellow in Data Ethics, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/university-of-oxford-1260\">University of Oxford<\/a>, and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/sandra-wachter-1246375\">Sandra Wachter<\/a>, Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/university-of-oxford-1260\">University of Oxford<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This article is republished from <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/targeted-ads-isolate-and-divide-us-even-when-theyre-not-political-new-research-163669\">original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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It was revealed in 2018 that Cambridge Analytica had used data harvested from 87 million Facebook&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":299314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/07\/Isolated-office-people-hed.jpg&signature=2e2f437506ebffc2f7d5b03e0a69b571","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}