The Future of Online Advertising: Thoughts on Emerging Issues in Privacy, Information Bubbles, and Disinformation

Abstract

Online advertising has exceeded television, to became the largest revenue advertising category in the United States [146], [147]. Some of the reasons for this success are online advertising's unique capabilities for measurement and personalized ad delivery. However, this success also presents new challenges for society. The same technology used for selling products can be employed as a tool for mass persuasion. This paper examines three aspects of this problem: data privacy, information bubbles, and false information. The paper offers some thoughts on addressing each problem.