What is the issue?

Tracking-based online advertising enables the ad industry to manipulate the public debate through micro-targeted messages that follow people across the internet. The majority of this data-fuelled ecosystem is controlled by big data firms who soak up advertising revenue that should be used to finance content creation like publishers, quality journalism and other creative industries.

Tracking ads harm journalism

While Google’s and Facebook’s global ad revenues have now surpassed US$ 200 billion annually, news publishers ad revenues have plummeted dramatically over the last two decades; between 2005 and 2018, news organizations saw their ad revenue fall by 70 percent.

Tracking ads harm people

At the same time, the tracking-based ad industry enables the financing and targeted dissemination of disinformation and other harmful online content. In April 2021, Facebook was caught allowing advertisers to target children that were profiled as being interested in smoking, alcohol and weight loss.

That is why the Tracking-Free Ads Coalition pledges to put an end to invasive online ads with bold legislative reform.