The Problem(s) With Facebook’s Targeted Advertising
“So, how do you sustain a business model in which users don’t pay for your service?” — Orrin Hatch
“Senator, we run ads” — Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook isn’t free. It hasn’t been since 2007. Let me explain.
The common misconception with Facebook, and really any social media platform for that matter, is that users believe they are the customer. While it’s true that social media platforms would cease to exist without the billions of users that feed them, there are important distinctions between public services and private corporations that need to be addressed. As the internet increasingly becomes a cyber home for humanity, awareness is key.
- Users don’t pay Facebook with money, they pay with data.
- If you aren’t the customer, you are the product.
Users don’t pay Facebook with money, they pay with data
It was November 6, 2007 in New York when Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook Ads. The launch covered three exciting new ventures: pages for businesses, a viral ad system, and the insight interface. While the first two were exciting for consumer and internet brand partners, the insight interface arguably instigated what has become the most striking exploitation of data on the internet.
By now, most of us have heard the rumors that Facebook is listening to us through our phones. It goes like this: one day, Sally is on the phone with her friend Beth talking about a tool that helps you open coconuts. Neither of them have searched for this tool or indicated Sally’s coconut compulsion online in any way. The next day after logging on for her daily dose of virtual community, Beth sees an ad for an odd looking device.
How in the world did Facebook know to show this device to Beth? They must have been listening to her phone conversation! How else could the platform have the context to target advertisements that seamlessly? Although this theory provides a satisfying explanation to unsettled users, Facebook most likely isn’t the new Big Brother (yet).
As Antonio García Martínez, Facebook’s first targeted ads leader, put it: Facebook isn’t listening to us… because it doesn’t have to. With the help of tools like Facebook Pixel, Facebook IQ, and cutting edge machine learning algorithms; Beth practically handed the coconut opener advertisement to them on a platter.
Facebook Pixel alone tracks our interactions with over 6 million websites by collecting data about what pages we’ve visited, items we have added to online carts, services we have signed up for, and practically every virtual interaction that can be stored for later use. This data combined with our stored interactions through Facebook/Instagram and machine learning leads me to believe that Facebook might know more about some people than they know about themselves.
If you aren’t the customer, you are the product
“What’s the big deal? At least my ads are relevant to me, right?”
Ah, the 21st century fatal flaw. There is an important distinction between social media UI design and social media data collection. Good UI and UX keeps users on a platform. Good collection of user data keeps advertisers on a platform. Users are needed as monetary incentive. Advertisers are needed for revenue. Who is the customer?
When it comes down to it, Facebook is a private company. While the platform is tailored to serve users, the real customers are the advertisers. Design decisions are meant to streamline the user experience, but hidden intentions are directed towards advertiser interests. Unfortunately, as historically demonstrated by most tech giants in Silicon Valley, revenue generally comes before ethics. While targeted advertising on the surface may seem like an efficient alternative for traditional marketing, it has become a mere pawn in a sea of unintended consequences.
In 2017, ProPublica discovered that Facebook’s advertising algorithm unintentionally empowered white-supremacist groups by targeting advertisements towards users labeled as ‘jew haters’. Besides the obvious ethical problems accompanying this scandal, there is a much deeper and similarly unsettling dilemma that went ignored.
These users were being labeled.
After the initiation of the GDPR, Facebook announced their new data platform for users. Everyone is now able to look through their settings and see how their online decisions have been compiled into labels that are utilized for personalized advertisements. In order to comply with the GDPR, Facebook has graciously allowed users to modify these labels for greater accuracy.
While this is definitely a step in the right direction, some important thoughts arise:
- Most users don’t realize that their decisions on websites outside of Facebook are being collected and sent to the company anyway.
- Most users aren’t aware that they have the ability to see how Facebook categorizes them.
- Through categorization, most users may be unintentionally pigeon-holed into a persona, without realizing it.
- Online privacy extends past security breaches when data collection subconsciously begins to influence our decisions online.
- Is internet freedom really free if people become afraid of either false categorization or the jeopardization of an online persona?
The Right To Be Forgotten
The real problem with data privacy lies in the cumulative and massive nature of big data. Social media companies and third parties don’t have one-time access. Targeted advertising utilizes a collection of data that once outed can exist in the tech-sphere for all of existence. The right to be forgotten brings to light the fragility of human reputation within the intangible world of the internet.
This isn’t an attempt to slander Facebook. Instead, it’s more of an attempt to educate innocent social media users about their digital footprint. Facebook is under an inordinate amount of scrutiny. With 2.23 billion monthly active users, there is no way to please everyone. There is no way to avoid every ethical scandal. There is no way to fund a company without some form of money.
But, there is a way to stop Facebook’s data exploitation.
Right now, Facebook is monetizing its users. Our clicks, likes, shopping habits, search results, favorite websites, uploaded pictures, and ridiculous amounts of data are fed directly to third party advertisers. These third parties fund Facebook. What if we broke the cycle?
Imagine a subscription based Facebook. A platform that was truly tailored to your needs and interests, without subconsciously influencing your decisions for a return on investment. An interface that would focus on nothing but its original mission: to connect people to each other.
Many people aren’t willing to make this kind of investment. Data privacy isn’t a concern worth spending $5 a year to preserve. The unfortunate reality is that until more awareness is raised on this issue, the power will lie in the hands of the private companies. Every day, more and more data is being collected. Even if you don’t have a Facebook account.
I deleted my Facebook knowing that data collection will still happen. Today my data is being used for targeted ads, but what about tomorrow? In the US, there aren’t any laws that protect users from clandestine social data engineering. Ignoring these issues by sitting back and clicking forward is synonymous with a frog being placed in a boiling pot. By the time we realize that machine learning innovations are skyrocketing, it may be too late.
