Surveillance Advertising Archives

Surveillance Advertising

Washington Post

Dec 14, 2023

Google is rolling out new protections for our location data

“In July 2022, Google promised to delete sensitive location data to protect people seeking abortion care in a post-Roe America, but in the past year and a half, [it] has fallen short,” said Nicole Gill, executive director of the advocacy group Accountable Tech. “We are encouraged by their latest announcement to better protect the privacy of the millions of people who use their products every day.”

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech Applauds the Reintroduction of the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act

The endless collection of personal data to micro-target ads is the very core of Big Tech’s toxic business model and a powerful driving force behind the rise of extremism and misinformation, in addition to a myriad other societal harms.

Zach Praiss

Surveillance Advertising

The Register

Jun 27, 2023

One year after Roe v Wade overturned and ‘uterus surveillance’ looks grim

As recently as May, however, two investigations, one by advocacy group Accountable Tech and the other by the Washington Post, found Google continued to track and store location history for trips to abortion clinics.

Victoria Vinall

Surveillance Advertising

Gizmodo

May 10, 2023

Advertising on Twitter Means You Support Tucker Carlson Now

In the climate Musk and Tucker built for themselves, tying your ad money to their projects could generate public condemnation. Representatives from the advocacy groups Free Press, Media Matters, Accountable Tech, and the Center For Countering Digital Hate all told Gizmodo that Carlson’s new show will be even worse for the reputation of any brand that chooses to advertise on Twitter.

Victoria Vinall

Surveillance Advertising

Feb 07, 2023

Accountable Tech Applauds President Biden for Outlining Bold Steps to Hold Big Tech Accountable

Accountable Tech applauds President Biden’s bold demand to hold social media companies to account for their broken profit model, calling for long overdue safeguards that force online platforms and apps to prioritize the safety, health, and privacy of their users – especially children and teens.

Zach Praiss

Surveillance Advertising

Jan 04, 2023

Accountable Tech Statement on Landmark Ruling Against Meta’s Surveillance Advertising Business

This ruling is a landmark victory in the fight against tech giants who extract users’ personal data without consent, manipulate us, and warp public discourse in service of their toxic business model.

Zach Praiss

Surveillance Advertising

Aug 11, 2022

Accountable Tech Applauds FTC’s Proposed Rulemaking to Crack Down on Commercial Surveillance

Today’s announcement by the FTC represents a critical first step toward cracking down on the egregious intrusions and exploitation of the ever-expanding surveillance economy.

Zach Praiss

Surveillance Advertising

Washington Post

May 12, 2022

I gave Instagram photos of my baby. Instagram returned fear.

Other new parents on Instagram tell me they also feel they’re being recommended posts that prey on our specific insecurities, from breastfeeding to vaccination. “I found Instagram to be particularly devastating to my already fragile mental state in the postpartum period,” says Nicole Gill, the co-founder of Accountable Tech, a progressive tech advocacy group. “Getting suggested posts on ‘how to lose baby weight in 6 weeks,’ for example, almost immediately after having my daughter was not pleasant.”

Victoria Vinall

Surveillance Advertising

Washington Post

Mar 28, 2022

Europe is lapping the U.S. on tech regulation — again

Accountable Tech, a left-leaning advocacy group, argued in a policy memo comparing U.S. and E.U. tech reforms that Europe’s incoming regulation “reads like an omnibus bill written by top American lawmakers” because of its overlap with many U.S. proposals.

Victoria Vinall

Surveillance Advertising

Mar 01, 2022

Statement on President Biden’s Strategy to Address Big Tech’s Role in Our National Mental Health Crisis

We applaud President Biden for recognizing the inconvenient truth Big Tech executives continue to deny—that their products and platforms now play an important role in defining the future of this country.

Zach Praiss

Surveillance Advertising

Jan 27, 2022

Dozens of Key Stakeholders Formally Urge FTC to Ban Surveillance Advertising

The FTC received dozens of submissions from a diverse cross-section of leading advocacy organizations, businesses, lawmakers, and experts – along with more than 2,000 grassroots supporters – urging the Commission to promulgate new rules to prohibit this unfair method of competition.

Zach Praiss

Surveillance Advertising

Jan 18, 2022

Statement on the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act

Big Tech will continue stoking discrimination, division, and delusion until we upend this perverse incentive structure – which is exactly what Reps. Eshoo and Schakowsky, and Sen. Booker’s Banning Surveillance Advertising Act would do.

Zach Praiss

Surveillance Advertising

The National Law Review

Dec 28, 2021

Accountable Tech Files Petition for FTC Rulemaking to Ban Surveillance Advertising

Accountable Tech has recently filed a petition for an FTC rulemaking that would ban “surveillance advertising” as an “unfair method of competition.” The group cites the ad practices of surveillance ad giants like Facebook, Google and Amazon.

Victoria Vinall

Surveillance Advertising

Wall Street Journal

Sep 29, 2021

FTC Weighs New Online Privacy Rules

"This week, the progressive-leaning advocacy group Accountable Tech petitioned the agency to ban 'surveillance advertising' as an unfair method of competition, defining the practice as targeted advertising based on consumers’ personal data."

Kenya Juarez

Surveillance Advertising

Washington Post

Sep 28, 2021

Will the U.S. follow the E.U. playbook to crack down on Silicon Valley giants?

"Accountable Tech, a progressive tech advocacy group, is urging the FTC in a new petition to write new rules to prohibit what it calls 'surveillance advertising' — or the pervasive use of hyper-targeted ads by dominant tech platforms."

Kenya Juarez

Surveillance Advertising

Sep 28, 2021

Accountable Tech Petitions FTC to Ban Surveillance Advertising as an ‘Unfair Method of Competition’

Accountable Tech filed a significant rulemaking petition Thursday urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ban surveillance advertising.

Zach Praiss

Surveillance Advertising

Politico

Jun 25, 2021

Can 5G pay for infrastructure?

But Warner and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in a joint statement that the bill would allow consumers to move their data away from dominant platforms that are “often insensitive to consumers’ privacy, content or platform security expectations,” and advocacy group Accountable Tech shared similar sentiments in a memo Tuesday.

Victoria Vinall

Surveillance Advertising

Euractiv

Jun 21, 2021

Don’t throw out the Digital Services Act’s key accountability tools

The Digital Services Act’s provisions on risk assessment and audit must stay and be improved if we are to hold tech companies accountable for harmful business models and rights violations.

Zach Praiss

Surveillance Advertising

WIRED

Mar 22, 2021

This Group Wants to ‘Ban Surveillance Advertising’

“I was frankly shocked by how much appetite there was for this, and by how receptive folks were to the pitch,” said Jesse Lehrich, a cofounder of the advocacy group Accountable Tech. According to a January poll commissioned by Accountable Tech, 81 percent of respondents said they would be in favor of reforms to “ban companies from collecting people's personal data and using it to target them with ads.” By contrast, only 63 percent said they supported breaking up companies like Facebook and Google, another idea that has been proposed by lawmakers like Elizabeth Warren.

Victoria Vinall

Surveillance Advertising

TechCrunch

Jan 18, 2021

New privacy bill would put major limits on targeted advertising

"Privacy-minded companies including search engine maker DuckDuckGo and Proton, creator of ProtonMail, backed the legislation along with organizations including the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the Anti-Defamation League, Accountable Tech and Common Sense Media."

Kenya Juarez

Tag Surveillance Advertising

Google is rolling out new protections for our location data

Accountable Tech Applauds the Reintroduction of the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act

One year after Roe v Wade overturned and ‘uterus surveillance’ looks grim

Advertising on Twitter Means You Support Tucker Carlson Now

Accountable Tech Applauds President Biden for Outlining Bold Steps to Hold Big Tech Accountable

Accountable Tech Statement on Landmark Ruling Against Meta’s Surveillance Advertising Business

Accountable Tech Applauds FTC’s Proposed Rulemaking to Crack Down on Commercial Surveillance

I gave Instagram photos of my baby. Instagram returned fear.

Europe is lapping the U.S. on tech regulation — again

Statement on President Biden’s Strategy to Address Big Tech’s Role in Our National Mental Health Crisis

Dozens of Key Stakeholders Formally Urge FTC to Ban Surveillance Advertising

Statement on the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act

Accountable Tech Files Petition for FTC Rulemaking to Ban Surveillance Advertising

FTC Weighs New Online Privacy Rules

Will the U.S. follow the E.U. playbook to crack down on Silicon Valley giants?

Accountable Tech Petitions FTC to Ban Surveillance Advertising as an ‘Unfair Method of Competition’

Can 5G pay for infrastructure?

Don’t throw out the Digital Services Act’s key accountability tools

This Group Wants to ‘Ban Surveillance Advertising’

New privacy bill would put major limits on targeted advertising

Join the fight to rein in Big Tech.