Profit over Privacy: How Surveillance Advertising Conquered the Internet
... Because of its size-generating $600+ billion globally (Lebow, 2023)-even a minuscule stake in this market translates into a significant sum of money. As a result, a wide range of institutional actors-platform companies, technology start-ups, data intermediaries, ecommerce and retail giants, and many others-are actively vying for control not only over market share, but also over trading protocols and technology standards (Braun, 2023;MacKenzie et al., 2023), over advertising tracking and targeting infrastructures (Srinivasan, 2020;Turow, 2011), and over definitions of what constitutes privacy (Crain, 2021;McGuigan et al., 2023). ...
... Situated in the broader fields of media and communication, critical advertising studies does bring a series of normative issues to the fore that question the functioning, or even the necessity of targeted advertising by: (1) debating the legitimacy of this type of advertising because of its discriminatory practices and negative impact on user privacy (Braun, 2023;Crain, 2021;McGuigan, 2023); (2) recognizing that the constant introduction of novel technologies increases institutional opacity, which frustrates the ability to adjudicate how corporate actions and infrastructures impact other actors (Rieder and Hofmann, 2020;Van Dijck et al., 2019);and (3) showing that this market is prone to corporate concentration and rife with asymmetrical institutional relationships (MacKenzie et al., 2023;Srnicek, 2017). ...
... A key driver behind the complexity and opacity of advertising technology ecosystems has been the relentless pursuit of an unfulfilled promise: the ability to match a tailored ad with a specific individual, ideally in real time (Turow, 2011). This deterministic desire became increasingly plausible with advances in computing and connectivity, translating into sizable corporate investments in research and development (Crain, 2021;Srnicek, 2017). As noted in the introduction, any company able to deliver on this promise at low cost, at scale, and with high precision is set to make billions. ...
This article calls for systematic analysis of the accumulation and exercise of institutional platform power in the digital economy. We examine how the relatively open mobile advertising ecosystem is nevertheless dominated by a handful of platform conglomerates, most prominently Google, Facebook, and Apple. Although extant scholarship acknowledges the concentration of corporate power in digital advertising, as well as its cultural, societal, and environmental harms, a comprehensive approach to platform power is missing. Providing a framework to develop such insights, we analyze how shifts in the advertising ecosystem are driven by four interrelated institutional platform strategies: infrastructuralization, platformization, conglomeration, and financialization. The 2021 introduction and subsequent rollout of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework serves as an example to demonstrate that even though institutional relationships of dependence are constantly evolving, control over infrastructural nodes tends to entrench the already dominant position of leading platform conglomerates.
... Security concerns are consistently high (Lv and Qiao, 2020;Keshta and Odeh, 2021). Issues such as personal data breaches, data sharing and privacy concerns have been extensively discussed in technology adoption literature (Crain, 2021). Health data misuse poses several risks to a company's reputation and credibility. ...
... Health data misuse poses several risks to a company's reputation and credibility. Data can be used by the government or third parties without patients' approval, as there are no specific privacy protection standards on this subject (Alkraiji et al., 2016;Crain, 2021). Thus, health-tech startups should implement strong data protection and cybersecurity safeguards and actively communicate the same to all stakeholders. ...
... This influences the user's attitude and reluctance towards new services start-ups offer. Employee pushback or perceived high uncertainty is one of the main fears or barriers that have been highlighted in the literature (Crain, 2021;Dahleez et al., 2021). This will affect the firm's growth and trust in the long run. ...
Purpose
Along with technology-based ecosystems, healthcare start-ups are expanding multi-fold. On the other hand, underlying uncertainties pose several challenges for these health-tech enterprises at macro-meso-micro level, influencing their business circumstances and profitability. The current study aims to comprehend the macro-, meso- and micro-level barriers that make it difficult for enterprises to set up healthcare technology start-ups. The study also observed the perceived effect of these challenges on firms' performance and cost structure over time. Using the theory of behaviour under uncertainty, the study revealed multiple systemic, sector-related, human and implementation barriers that hinder business growth and lead to uncertainties for health-tech start-ups.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a grounded theory approach, the study collected the views of 51 health tech start-ups in the UK using an online participants pool. The data was collected using qualitative data techniques in the form of open-ended essays, and a content analysis using thematic coding process was conducted. The questions centered around the different institutional uncertainties or barriers while setting up or running a healthcare start-up.
Findings
The study revealed several macro-, meso- and micro-level barriers these technology-based enterprises perceive in the healthcare industry. These are recognised as systemic barriers, such as lack of funding and procedural issues; sector-related barriers, such as market-related impediments; human barriers, including psychological barriers and resistance to new technology; and implementation barriers, such as operational and personnel issues.
Research limitations/implications
The study used qualitative, open-ended essay techniques to collect the data. Future studies may use a mixed-methods approach to provide holistic insights. The study is conducted in a single developed country, the UK. Future work may expand these findings by comparing developed market challenges with those of emerging markets and by assessing the viewpoints of healthcare start-ups.
Practical implications
This research will assist the healthcare sector and government understand health tech start-up hurdles and uncertainty. Policymakers must assist start-ups and encourage entrepreneurial innovation. Regulating and enabling policies will help. The paper examines start-ups' macro, meso and micro uncertainties. Policymakers promoting sector entrepreneurship must consider these barriers while designing policy guidelines.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the existing literature on technology start-ups, particularly in the healthcare industry, and identifies significant barriers these start-ups face. The study synthesizes research on health-tech start-up uncertainty and bridges the gap between theory and practice by applying empirical findings.
... Because of its size-an economy of over $600+ billion globally-even a miniscule stake in this complex ecosystem translates into a significant revenue stream. As a result, a wide range of institutional actors-platform companies, technology start-ups, data intermediaries, ecommerce and retail giants, and othershave vied for control not only over market share, but also over measurement standards and tracking infrastructures (Crain, 2021;Turow, 2011). Fueling the already dynamic nature of the digital advertising industry is the ability of new market entrants to either aggregate demand (i.e., eyeballs or consumers) and/or supply (i.e., ad inventory or 'impressions' to sell). ...
... Our work builds on scholarship situated at the intersection of advertising studies (Crain, 2021;McGuigan, 2019), and platform studies (Blanke & Pybus, 2020;Helmond et al., 2019). This work allows us to take a critical approach to analyze the uneven distribution of institutional power, which includes market power, infrastructural power, and discursive power (Broughton Micova & Jacques, 2020;van Dijck et al., 2019). ...
This paper examines how dominant institutional actors exercise power and control over the digital advertising ecosystem. It pursues this inquiry through a case study on the 2021 introduction of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature—a privacy setting newly integrated in the operating system of iOS mobile devices. Developing this case study, we ask: How do dominant market actors exercise control over the infrastructural layers of the ‘mobile ad stack’ and how do they gain access to end-user data? These questions are addressed through a mix-methods approach that involves (A) analysis of developer documentation provided by Apple, (B) a review of ongoing litigation, and (C) analysis of financial disclosure forms of two ad-driven platforms Meta and Snapchat. This inquiry shows, first, how and why Facebook and Google, each in their own way, have been highly successful in their ability to aggregate both ad inventory and accurate, real-time user data. Second, it demonstrates how ATT blocked the access of advertising platforms to a key part of this real-time user data, while, simultaneously, enabling Apple to gain control over end-users’ mobile data. Thus, the rollout of ATT and its subsequent shifts in revenue and data demonstrate the relational and constantly evolving nature of institutional power in the mobile advertising ecosystem.
... Social media platforms, such as those owned by Meta (Facebook, Instagram), now dominate the provision of online advertising. Their advertising is automated and relies on the vast amount of data about user characteristics and behaviours collected by platforms, data brokers and advertisers (Crain, 2021;Beauvisage et al., 2023). This gives advertisers the ability to finely target and tune the placement, timing and even the precise tone and content of ads to capture attention (eg time spent looking) and engagement (eg likes, comments, clicks) (Carolan, 2018;Montgomery et al., 2019;Paterson et al., 2021;Brown et al., 2024). ...
The World Health Organization and public health experts are calling for urgent restrictions on the online marketing of unhealthy food. The harmful effects of exposure to advertising for ‘unhealthy foods’, including discretionary foods high in fat, salt or sugar, particularly for children, has prompted a proposed policy action in Australia to prohibit all online unhealthy food marketing. We used a novel data donation infrastructure, the Australian Ad Observatory, to create a dataset of 1703 ads promoting top-selling unhealthy food brands that had been placed by 141 different advertisers on 367 individual Australians’ Facebook feeds. We used this dataset to identify any targeting of unhealthy food ads towards young people (18–24), investigate harmful marketing practices by four of the top advertisers (KFC, McDonald’s, Cadbury and 7-Eleven); and demonstrate how online advertising may be made observable and accountable. We find indications that young people (18–24), especially young men, are being targeted by unhealthy food, especially fast food, ads. We also find that unhealthy food brands use potentially harmful marketing strategies to appeal to children, young people, parents and the broader community, including cartoon characters, and associations with popular sports and greenwashing. The policy implications of our findings are that a broad prohibition on all forms of unhealthy food advertising online is desirable to protect not only children but also young people and the broader community. Such a prohibition will go one step towards addressing the commercial and digital determinants of health caused by harmful industries’ use of online automated advertising.
... Broadly speaking, then, a few very large online platforms provide critical third-party technologies used across the web ecosystem. Meanwhile, simultaneous to these developments, there has been a growing reliance on advertising for the Internet economy (Crain, 2021). To be profitable, websites must embed third-party technologies to participate in ad exchanges creation -a tendency described by Bounegru et al., (2018) as the "techno-commercial underpinnings of the web". ...
Political parties have gone digital. Political scientists in countries around the world have diagnosed the rise of the digital party and traced parties’ adoption of digital technology. Existing attempts to understand parties’ digital practices have focused on the adoption of different tools, with scholars empirically studying and theorizing how and why digital technology is used. What has received less attention is the technical architecture and origins of these tools, questions that have been more directly examined by political communication scholarship. In this paper we entwine insights from these two disciplines, interrogating the idea of ‘platformization’ in the context of political technology. Presenting a unique, longitudinal dataset that captures the technological development of political party websites in 66 parties in 16 countries, we provide unprecedented insight into the evolution of party websites and show evidence of increasing platform dependency. Our findings have important implications for our understanding of parties’ relationship with technology, showing how technological developments and monopolies can lead to increasingly homogenized practice internationally.
... The third paper taking an infrastructural perspective, "Observing 'tuned' advertising on digital platforms", by Nicholas Carah and his Australia-based colleagues, has a similar mandate as Luitse, to make complex platform infrastructures more legible. If one thinks AI technology is hard to comprehend for laypersons, the world of digital advertising is somehow even harder to grasp; an ecosystem that has been evolving for over two decades and presents a notoriously slippery object of study (Crain, 2021). Spurred by advertising-funded platforms such as Google (Alphabet) and Facebook (Meta), one of the latest developments in digital advertising concerns "tuned advertising", a process of hyper-targeted advertising in which "ads are continuously algorithmically ' optimised' to users in real time". ...
... Digital platforms like Meta and Alphabet derive their capacity to engineer new technologies that shape markets and societies from advertising revenue. The power of their advertising models rest both in their capacity to translate social life into data that trains algorithmic models and the opacity of those models to public observability (Crain, 2021). The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's landmark Digital Platform Services Inquiry (2020)(2021)(2022)(2023)(2024)(2025) has highlighted the extraordinary and largely unchecked market power of Meta and Alphabet and their status as an advertising duopoly (ACCC, 2020). ...
... While many of these so-called "data brokers" operate in the shadows, we have learned a lot about them over the years from the critical investigations of many researchers, journalists, and activists (e.g. , Beer 2018;Braun 2013;Crain 2021;Christl and Spiekermann, 2016;Lechardoy et al. 2020;Mellet and Beauvisage 2020;Nadler et al. 2018;Zuboff 2019). Additionally, we have done empirical and historical research ourselves into the role of business partners and software infrastructure development in the data economy, which we summarize below (Helmond, Nieborg and van der Vlist 2019;van der Vlist and Helmond 2021;van der Vlist et al. 2022). ...
... We enjoy personalization in applications such as recommender systems for music or shopping (Seaver, 2022). We tolerate personalization in applications like targeted advertising on social media (Crain, 2021). We likely do not even recognize some personalization until it goes away, such as when your internet browser's cookies are deleted, and your suggested searches and saved logins are cleared. ...
Calling attention to the growing intersection between the insurance and technology sectors-or 'insurtech'-this article is intended as a bat signal for the interdisciplinary fields that have spent recent decades studying the explosion of digitization, datafication, smartification, automation, and so on. Many of the dynamics that attract people to researching technology are exemplified, often in exaggerated ways, by emerging applications in insurance, an industry that has broad material effects. Based on in-depth mixed-methods research into insurance technology, I have identified a set of interlocking logics that underly this regime of actuarial governance in society: ubiquitous intermediation, continuous interaction, total integration, hyper-personalization, actuarial discrimination, and dynamic reaction. Together these logics describe how enduring ambitions and existing capabilities are motivating the future of how insurers engage with customers, data, time, and value. This article surveys each logic, laying out a techno-political framework for how to orient critical analysis of developments in insurtech and where to direct future research on this growing industry. Ultimately, my goal is to advance our understanding how insurance-a powerful institution that is fundamental to the operations of modern society-continues to change, and what dynamics and imperatives, whose desires and interests are steering that change. The stuff of insurance is far too important to be left to the insurance industry.
... While many of these so-called "data brokers" operate in the shadows, we have learned a lot about them over the years from the critical investigations of many researchers, journalists, and activists (e.g. , Beer 2018;Braun 2013;Crain 2021;Christl and Spiekermann, 2016;Lechardoy et al. 2020;Mellet and Beauvisage 2020;Nadler et al. 2018;Zuboff 2019). Additionally, we have done empirical and historical research ourselves into the role of business partners and software infrastructure development in the data economy, which we summarize below (Helmond, Nieborg and van der Vlist 2019; van der Vlist and Helmond 2021; van der Vlist et al. 2022). ...
Taking up the challenges of the datafication of culture, as well as of the scholarship of cultural inquiry itself, this collection contributes to the critical debate about data and algorithms. How can we understand the quality and significance of current socio-technical transformations that result from datafication and algorithmization? How can we explore the changing conditions and contours for living within such new and changing frameworks? How can, or should we, think and act within, but also in response to these conditions?
This collection brings together various perspectives on the datafication and algorithmization of culture from debates and disciplines within the field of cultural inquiry, specifically (new) media studies, game studies, urban studies, screen studies, and gender and postcolonial studies. It proposes conceptual and methodological directions for exploring where, when, and how data and algorithms (re)shape cultural practices, create (in)justice, and (co)produce knowledge.
... While many of these so-called "data brokers" operate in the shadows, we have learned a lot about them over the years from the critical investigations of many researchers, journalists, and activists (e.g. , Beer 2018;Braun 2013;Crain 2021;Christl and Spiekermann, 2016;Lechardoy et al. 2020;Mellet and Beauvisage 2020;Nadler et al. 2018;Zuboff 2019). Additionally, we have done empirical and historical research ourselves into the role of business partners and software infrastructure development in the data economy, which we summarize below (Helmond, Nieborg and van der Vlist 2019; van der Vlist and Helmond 2021; van der Vlist et al. 2022). ...
Taking up the challenges of the datafication of culture, as well as of the scholarship of cultural inquiry itself, this collection contributes to the critical debate about data and algorithms. How can we understand the quality and significance of current socio-technical transformations that result from datafication and algorithmization? How can we explore the changing conditions and contours for living within such new and changing frameworks? How can, or should we, think and act within, but also in response to these conditions?
This collection brings together various perspectives on the datafication and algorithmization of culture from debates and disciplines within the field of cultural inquiry, specifically (new) media studies, game studies, urban studies, screen studies, and gender and postcolonial studies. It proposes conceptual and methodological directions for exploring where, when, and how data and algorithms (re)shape cultural practices, create (in)justice, and (co)produce knowledge.
... In practice, these two dimensions are bundled: the main actors of the advertising industry, Google, and Facebook, have developed self-service ad-buying services, connected with automated systems able to purchase inventory, display ads, and optimize campaign efficiency. This ecosystem has been coined as "surveillance advertising" (Crain, 2021) since it relies on the accumulation of multiple layers of information about individuals' characteristics and behaviors. ...
Recent innovations in online advertising facilitate the use of a wide variety of data sources to build micro-segments of consumers, and delegate the manufacture of audience segments to machine learning algorithms. Both techniques promise to replace demographic targeting, as part of a post-demographic turn driven by big data technologies. This article empirically investigates this transformation in online advertising. We show that targeting categories are assessed along three criteria: efficiency, communicability, and explainability. The relative importance of these objectives helps explain the lasting role of demographic categories, the development of audience segments specific to each advertiser, and the difficulty in generalizing interest categories associated with big data. These results underline the importance of studying the impact of advanced big data and AI technologies in their organizational and professional contexts of appropriation, and of paying attention to the permanence of the categorizations that make the social world intelligible.
This book is a first-of-its-kind critical interdisciplinary introduction to the economic, political, cultural, and technological dimensions of work and labor in the rapidly growing digital media and entertainment industries (DMEI). The book presents a comprehensive guide to understanding the key contexts, theories, methods, debates, and struggles surrounding work and labor in the DMEI. Packed with current examples and accessible research findings, the book highlights the changing conditions and experiences of work in the DMEI. It surveys the DMEI’s key sectors and occupations and considers the complex intersections between labor and social power relations of class, gender, and race, as well as tensions between creativity and commerce, freedom and control, meritocracy and hierarchy, and precarity and equity, diversity, and inclusivity. Chapters also explore how work in the DMEI is being reshaped by capitalism and corporations, government and policies, management, globalization, platforms, A.I., and worker collectives such as unions and cooperatives. This book is a critical introduction to this growing area of research, teaching, learning, life, labor, and organizing, with an eye to understanding work in the DMEI and changing it, for the better. Offering a broad overview of the field, this textbook is an indispensable resource for instructors, undergraduates, postgraduates, and scholars.
regarding technology can work against us, leading to overuse, which in turn influences physical, mental and emotional development among current ‘Generation Z’ and ‘Millennial’ users (e.g., born 1997-2012, and 1981-1996, respectively). Compared to older technology users, Generation Z report more mental and physical health problems. Categories of mental health include attentional deficits, feelings of depression, anxiety social isolation and even suicidal thoughts, as along with physical health complaints such as sore neck and shoulders, eyestrain and increase in myopia. Long duration of looking downward at a smartphone affects not only eyestrain and posture but it also affects breathing which burden overall health. The article provides evidence and practices to show how cell phones and slouching posture may cause an increase in emotional health symptoms and increases in physical health symptoms such as eye strain, myopia, decreased mood and energy, or body aches and pains especially related to technology overuse. Suggestions and strategies are provided for reversing the deleterious effects of slouched posture and shallow breathing to promote health.
Zusammenfassung
In nahezu allen Etappen des Forschungszyklus ist eine zunehmende Abhängigkeit von wenigen kommerziellen Anbietern zu sehen, wobei diese Anbieter teils direkt begrenzen, was der Forschung an Arbeitsmöglichkeiten und Fragestellungen erreichbar ist. Hierauf reagieren Politik, Förderer und Governance mit dem Versuch, digitale Souveränität zu stärken. In den konkreten Maßnahmen treffen sie sich dabei mit Konzepten von Open Science, die ebenfalls wissenschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Relevanz bei Sicherung der Wissenschaftsautonomie und Wahlfreiheit zu verbinden suchen. Als zentraler Punkt erweist sich eine Veränderung der Renommeestrukturen, die sich direkt auf die infrastrukturellen Anforderungen wie dem aufgeschwemmten und fehlgeleiteten Publikationswesen auswirkt. Eine Stärkung von Open Science und der digitalen Souveränität in den wissenschaftlichen Infrastrukturen ermöglicht dabei auch verbesserte gesellschaftliche Verpflichtung von Wissenschaft und dadurch, den Einfluss der „Merchants of Doubt“ und der von ihnen betriebenen Wissenschaftsskepsis zurückzudrängen. Dies erfordert auch entsprechende Anstrengungen seitens der Bibliotheken.
The podcasting landscape has been reshaped in the past several years by acquisitions and mergers among players in the industry. Major platform services like Spotify, SiriusXM, iHeartMedia, Google, and Apple have all attempted to more closely bind consumers to their proprietary services, threatening the open architecture of distribution via RSS. While control and monetization of intellectual property is one key driver of platformization in podcasting, another key institutional shift is being accelerated these changes: the datafication of the audience. In short, datafication involves the quantification of human activity to enable surveillance, prediction, and mass customization of advertising. In this paper, I explore one significant impact of widescale platformization within podcasting: the emergence of programmatic advertising markets. By essentially “listening in” to these industry discourses about podcast advertising (in podcasts and in the Podcast Upfront presentations from Spring 2022), this essay outlines the importance of platform-to-platform data transactions and highlights the resulting shifts in the podcasting ecosystem: away from the intimate, relationship-driven ethos of the medium and toward a quantitative, surveillance-driven ecosystem.
This article explores how Rideshare Drivers United (RDU), a fledgling union of app-based drivers in California, works in dialectical relationship to processes of surveillance capitalism. First, the article gives a brief history of RDU's organizing strategy in the lead-up to two strikes in the spring of 2019. RDU capitalized on social media's advertising platforms, as well as on a purpose-built app called Solidarity, to bring together a disparate workforce. Next, drawing on Vincent Mosco's framework for the political economy of communication, the article describes how this strategy emerged in response to, and intervened in, the processes of commodification, spatialization, and structuration that constitute surveillance capitalism. Interviews with Los Angeles– and San Diego–area driver-organizers suggest that this use of digital tools has become a mundane feature of the contemporary labor and social life. The refusal to fetishize platforms opens space for app-based workers to challenge surveillance capitalism's logics through platform organizing.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.