The new offering from Google doesn’t completely stop adverts appearing. But as a minimum, users will know who’s targeting them. Sometimes users will be able to restrict certain adverts too. This is in the form of Google introducing a revamped Ad Settings function. According to the company: “Google makes your ads more useful on Google services (ex: Search, YouTube), and on websites & apps that partner with Google to show ads.”
From the link, Google allows a user to alter the types of companies or areas that trigger the adverts that appear when using apps like Chrome. In terms of where you are likely to see adverts, Google adds further: “Control the ads you see…You can make the ads you see more useful or get ads that are specific to you. You’ll see Google ads on: Google services, like Search or YouTube; Websites and apps that partner with Google to show ads.”
This means, as Engadget explains: “If you’re scratching your head at a YouTube promo, you’ll know the reasoning behind its appearance and will have a quick way to tweak your settings if you’d rather not see that ad again.”
Google’s move follows an earlier announcement from Facebook, in terms of providing tighter controls over ad privacy. From July 2, 2018, Facebook has introduced new criteria for its Custom Audience advertising. Here advertisers need to ask users for permission for targeting ads based on contact info like email addresses and phone numbers. Advertisers will additionally need to declare how they obtained the contact information (such as by direct consent, partners or a mixture of both).
According to Facebook: “We must ensure our advertising solutions are simple to use, that targeting is done responsibly and that people understand why they see specific ads.”
For the user this offers more control. A “why am I seeing this?” link will appear with each advert, and clicking on this will show the user who was responsible for the targeting information and whether or not personal contact info was involved in this targeting.
