Personalized ads: Difference between revisions

(12 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown)

Line 1:

'''Personalized ~~advertisements~~, ~~also known as~~ custom ~~advertisement~~''' is a form to provide ads to the user, based on the data gathered of them. This allows to target the user with ads of products or services of the user's preferences.

'''Personalized advertising, custom advertising''' or '''targeted advertising''' is a form to provide certain ads to the user, based on the data gathered of them. This allows to target the user with ads of products or services of the user's preferences.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=About privacy and personalized ads (formerly known as interest-based ads) |url=https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2549116?hl=en |access-date=2 Apr 2026 |website=Google Ads Help}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Vicente |first=Vann |date=18 Jun 2021 |title=What Are Personalized Ads, and How Do They Work? |url=https://www.howtogeek.com/730581/what-are-personalized-ads-and-how-do-they-work/ |access-date=2 Apr 2026 |website=How-To Geek}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Froehlich |first=Nik |date=24 Feb 2024 |title=The Truth In User Privacy And Targeted Ads |url=https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2022/02/24/the-truth-in-user-privacy-and-targeted-ads/ |access-date=2 Apr 2026 |website=Forbes}}</ref>

==How it works==

Some products or services offer personalized ads via ad providers, like Google Ads. ~~In order to provide personalized ads to an~~ user, data ~~of them~~ (~~and maybe their~~ consent) ~~is required. Some examples of~~ data ~~collected to provide personalized ads are: Address, user information, search history~~ and ~~ad interaction. These gathered data allows the ad providers to show the user ads that better fit with the possible user's needs or preferences~~.

Some products or services offer personalized ads via ad providers, like Google Ads.<ref name=":0" /> Targeted advertising works using a combination of gathered user data (that might be collected without user's consent), training data and prediction algorithms.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

Some examples of data collected to provide targeted advertising consists of GPS location, age, gender, search history, ad interaction and application interactions. In some cases, ad providers allow users to opt-out from personalized ads and delete the gathered data.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

Once enough data is gathered, it is processed and used to train algorithms to create a profile of the user, detecting their fingerprints, behaviors, interests and dislikes. This profile is then used to predict the user and select and deploy advertisements that might be relevant for the user.<ref name=":2" />

==Why it is a problem==

===Privacy concerns===

The gathered data might belong to extremely sensitive data that could be gathered without the user's consent. ~~This~~ data can be taken ~~and~~ used for malicious purposes.

The gathered data might belong to extremely sensitive data that could be gathered without the user's consent or notice. In the most invasive cases, the data gathered could belong to records from private conversations of the user. There's also a risk this data can be intercepted, taken, leaked or used for malicious purposes.

===Manipulation===

Personalized ads ~~might~~ be more effective ~~on convincing~~ the user to pay for a product or a service, even if they actually don't need it. ~~The~~ ads shown ~~to the user also can~~ be malicious ads and the user could fall into them.

Personalized ads can be used as a more effective way to encourage the user to pay for a product or a service, even if they actually don't need it. It is possible the ads shown might be malicious, misleading or false ads, and the user could fall into them.

==Data poisoning==

[[wikipedia:Data_poisoning|Data poisoning]] is a practice done by some users as a form of protest or for privacy purposes, to prevent algorithms to profile the user. It consists of modifying on purpose the behavior in order to contaminate the advertising algorithms. This reduces the precision to correctly predict user's behavior, making harder to deploy relevant ads according to the actual user's profile.

An extension available for browsers named [https://adnauseam.io/ Adnauseam] works as an [[Ad block|ad-blocker]] but also as a tool to blur someone's advertising profile. It achieves this by automatically pseudo-clicking on every ad to send interaction data to the algorithms.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Howe C. |first=Daniel |last2=Nissenbaum |first2=Helen |title=Engineering Privacy and Protest: a Case Study of AdNauseam |url=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1873/IWPE17_paper_23.pdf |access-date=2 Apr 2026 |website=ceur-ws.org}}</ref>

==Examples==

*'''Google Ads''', the largest ad provider in the world, collects data from the products and services that the user uses. Then it shows personalized ads in their own products, services or third-party media that uses their ad provider service.

*'''Google Ads''', the largest ad provider in the world, collects data from the products and services that the user uses. Then it shows personalized ads in their own products, services or third-party media that uses their ad provider service.<ref name=":0" />

*Some products and services by [[Google]] that provide personalized ads are: [[YouTube]], Google Search and Google Play Store

*[[Reddit]] shows sometimes personalized ads that look like a regular post, based on the post and community interactions in the application.

*Several mobile applications show a pop-up that asks the user to enable personalized ads. Others might force to only allow this feature in order to use the app.

==See also==

*[[Advertising overload]]

*[[Ad block]]

*[[Spyware]]

*[[Bloatware]]

==References==

==References==

[[Category:Common terms]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Personalized advertisements, also known as custom advertisement''' is a form to provide ads to the user, based on the data gathered of them. This allows to target the user with ads of products or services of the user's preferences.
+{{Incomplete|Issue 1=needs citations}}
+'''Personalized advertising, custom advertising''' or '''targeted advertising''' is a form to provide certain ads to the user, based on the data gathered of them. This allows to target the user with ads of products or services of the user's preferences.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=About privacy and personalized ads (formerly known as interest-based ads) |url=https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2549116?hl=en |access-date=2 Apr 2026 |website=Google Ads Help}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Vicente |first=Vann |date=18 Jun 2021 |title=What Are Personalized Ads, and How Do They Work? |url=https://www.howtogeek.com/730581/what-are-personalized-ads-and-how-do-they-work/ |access-date=2 Apr 2026 |website=How-To Geek}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Froehlich |first=Nik |date=24 Feb 2024 |title=The Truth In User Privacy And Targeted Ads |url=https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2022/02/24/the-truth-in-user-privacy-and-targeted-ads/ |access-date=2 Apr 2026 |website=Forbes}}</ref>
 ==How it works==
-Some products or services offer personalized ads via ad providers, like Google Ads. In order to provide personalized ads to an user, data of them (and maybe their consent) is required. Some examples of data collected to provide personalized ads are: Address, user information, search history and ad interaction. These gathered data allows the ad providers to show the user ads that better fit with the possible user's needs or preferences.
+Some products or services offer personalized ads via ad providers, like Google Ads.<ref name=":0" /> Targeted advertising works using a combination of gathered user data (that might be collected without user's consent), training data and prediction algorithms.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
+Some examples of data collected to provide targeted advertising consists of GPS location, age, gender, search history, ad interaction and application interactions. In some cases, ad providers allow users to opt-out from personalized ads and delete the gathered data.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
+Once enough data is gathered, it is processed and used to train algorithms to create a profile of the user, detecting their fingerprints, behaviors, interests and dislikes. This profile is then used to predict the user and select and deploy advertisements that might be relevant for the user.<ref name=":2" />
 ==Why it is a problem==
 ===Privacy concerns===
-The gathered data might belong to extremely sensitive data that could be gathered without the user's consent. This data can be taken and used for malicious purposes.
+The gathered data might belong to extremely sensitive data that could be gathered without the user's consent or notice. In the most invasive cases, the data gathered could belong to records from private conversations of the user. There's also a risk this data can be intercepted, taken, leaked or used for malicious purposes.
 ===Manipulation===
-Personalized ads might be more effective on convincing the user to pay for a product or a service, even if they actually don't need it. The ads shown to the user also can be malicious ads and the user could fall into them.
+Personalized ads can be used as a more effective way to encourage the user to pay for a product or a service, even if they actually don't need it. It is possible the ads shown might be malicious, misleading or false ads, and the user could fall into them.
+==Data poisoning==
+[[wikipedia:Data_poisoning|Data poisoning]] is a practice done by some users as a form of protest or for privacy purposes, to prevent algorithms to profile the user. It consists of modifying on purpose the behavior in order to contaminate the advertising algorithms. This reduces the precision to correctly predict user's behavior, making harder to deploy relevant ads according to the actual user's profile.
+An extension available for browsers named [https://adnauseam.io/ Adnauseam] works as an [[Ad block|ad-blocker]] but also as a tool to blur someone's advertising profile. It achieves this by automatically pseudo-clicking on every ad to send interaction data to the algorithms.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Howe C. |first=Daniel |last2=Nissenbaum |first2=Helen |title=Engineering Privacy and Protest: a Case Study of AdNauseam |url=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1873/IWPE17_paper_23.pdf |access-date=2 Apr 2026 |website=ceur-ws.org}}</ref>
 ==Examples==
-*'''Google Ads''', the largest ad provider in the world, collects data from the products and services that the user uses. Then it shows personalized ads in their own products, services or third-party media that uses their ad provider service.
+*'''Google Ads''', the largest ad provider in the world, collects data from the products and services that the user uses. Then it shows personalized ads in their own products, services or third-party media that uses their ad provider service.<ref name=":0" />
 *Some products and services by [[Google]] that provide personalized ads are: [[YouTube]], Google Search and Google Play Store
+*[[Reddit]] shows sometimes personalized ads that look like a regular post, based on the post and community interactions in the application.
+*Several mobile applications show a pop-up that asks the user to enable personalized ads. Others might force to only allow this feature in order to use the app.
+==See also==
+*[[Advertising overload]]
+*[[Ad block]]
+*[[Spyware]]
+*[[Bloatware]]
-==References==
+==References<!-- Google ads page needs archive link -->==
 {{reflist}}
 [[Category:Common terms]]