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CDD urges Congress to adopt stronger online safeguards for kids and teensContact: Katharina Kopp, kkopp [at] democraticmedia.orgThe Childrenâs Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0), introduced by Senators Markey and Cassidy, will provide urgently needed online safeguards for children and teens. It will enact real platform accountability and limit the economic and psychological exploitation of children and teens online and thus address the public health crisis they are experiencing.By banning targeted ads to young people under 16, the endless streams of data collected by online companies to profile and track them will be significantly reduced. The ability of digital marketers and platforms to manipulate, discriminate, and exploit children and teens will be curtailed. COPPA 2.0 will also extend the original COPPA law protections for youth from 12 to 16 years of age. Â The proposed law provides the ability to delete childrenâs and teenâs data with a click of an âeraser button.â Â With the creation of a new FTC "Youth Marketing and Privacy Division,â COPPA 2.0 will ensure young peoplesâ privacy rights are enforced.
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Metaâs Virtual Reality-based Marketing Apparatus Poses Risks to Teens and OthersWhether itâs called Facebook or Meta, or known by its Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger or Reels services, the company has always seen children and teens as a key target. The recent announcement opening(link is external) up the Horizon Worlds metaverse(link is external) to teens, despite calls to first ensure it will be a safe and healthy experience, is lifted out of Facebookâs well-worn political playbookâmake whatever promises necessary to temporarily quell any political opposition to its monetization plans. Metaâs priorities are intractably linked to its quarterly shareholder revenue reports. Selling our ârealâ and âvirtualâ selves to marketers is their only real source of revenue, a higher priority than any self-regulatory scheme Meta offers(link is external) claiming to protect children and teens.Metaâs focus on creating more immersive, AI/VR, metaverse-connected experiences for advertisers should serve as a âwake-upâ call for regulators. Meta has unleashed a digital environment designed to trigger the âengagement(link is external)â of young people with marketing, data collection and commercially driven manipulation. Action is required to ensure that young people are treated fairly, and not exposed to data surveillance, threats to their health and other harms.Here are a few recent developments that should be part of any regulatory review of Meta and young people:Expansion of âimmersive(link is external)â video and advertising-embedded applications: Meta tells marketers it provides âseamless video experiences that are immersive and fueled by discovery,â including the âexciting(link is external) opportunity for advertisersâ with its short-video âReelsâ system. Through virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR(link is external)) technologies, we are exposed to advertising content designed to have a greater impact by influencing our subconscious and emotional processes. With AR ads, Meta tells(link is external) marketers, they can âcreate immersive experiences, encourage people to virtually try out your products and inspire people to interact with your brand,â including encouraging âpeople who interact with your ad⌠[to]take photos or videos to share their experience on Facebook Feed, on Facebook and Instagram Stories or in a message on Instagram.â Meta has also been researching(link is external) the use of AR(link is external) and VR(link is external) that will ensure that its ad and marketing messaging becomes even more compelling.Expanded integration of ads throughout Meta applications: Meta allows advertisers to âturn organic image and video posts into ads in Ads Manager on Facebook Reels,â including adding a âcall-to-actionâ feature. It permits marketers to âboost their Reels within the Instagram app to turn them into adsâŚ.â It enables marketers âto add a âSend Messageâ button to their Facebook Reels ads [that] give people an option to start a conversation in WhatsApp(link is external) right from the ad.â This follows last yearâs Meta âBoosted Reelsâ product(link is external) release, allowing Instagram Reels to be turned into ads as well.âAds Managerâ âoptimization(link is external) goalsâ that are inappropriate when used for targeting young people: These include âimpressions, reach, daily unique reach, link clicks and offsite conversions.â âAd placementsâ to target teens are available for the âFacebook Marketplace, Facebook Feed, ⌠Facebook Stories, Facebook-instream video (mobile), Instagram Feed, Instagram Explore, Instagram Stories, Facebook Reels and Instagram Reels.âThe use of metrics for delivering and measuring the impact of augmented reality ads: As Meta explains, it uses:(link is external)Instant Experience View Time: The average total time in seconds that people spent viewing an Instant Experience. An Instant Experience can include videos, images, products from a catalog, an augmented reality effect and more. For an augmented reality ad, this metric counts the average time people spent viewing your augmented reality effect after they tapped your ad.Instant Experience Clicks to Open: The number of clicks on your ad that open an Instant Experience. For an augmented reality ad, this metric counts the number of times people tapped your ad to open your augmented reality effect.Instant Experience Outbound Clicks: The number of clicks on links in an Instant Experience that take people off Meta technologies. For an augmented reality ad, this metric counts the number of times people tapped the call to action button in your augmented reality effect.Effect Share: The number of times someone shared an image or video that used an augmented reality effect from your ad. Shares can be to Facebook or Instagram Stories, to Facebook Feed or as a message on Instagram.These ad effects can be designed and tested(link is external) through Metaâs âSpark Hubâ and ad manager. Such VR and other measurement systems require regulators to analyze their role and impact on youth.Expanded use of machine learning/AI to promote shopping via Advantage(link is external)+: Last year, Meta rolled out âAdvantage+ shopping campaigns, Metaâs machine-learning capabilities [that] save advertisers(link is external) time and effort while creating and managing campaigns. For example, advertisers can set up a single Advantage+ shopping campaign, and the machine learning-powered automation automatically combines prospecting and retargeting audiences, selects numerous ad creative and messaging variations, and then optimizes for the best-performing ads.â While Meta says that Advantage+ isnât used to target teens, it deploys(link is external) it for âGen Zâ audiences. How Meta uses machine learning/AI to target families should also be on the regulatory agenda.Immersive advertising will shape the near-term evolution of marketing, where brands will be âworld agnostic and transcend the limitations of the current physical and digital space.â The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) predicts(link is external) that âin the next decade, AR and VR hardware and software will reach ubiquitous status.â One estimate is that by 2030, the metaverse will âgenerate(link is external) up to $5 trillion in value.âIn the meantime, Metaâs playbook in response to calls from regulators and advocates is to promise some safeguards, often focused on encouraging the use of what it calls âsafety(link is external) tools.â But these tools(link is external) do not ensure that teens arenât reached and influenced by AI- and VR-driven marketing technologies and applications. Meta also knows that today, ad-targeting is less important than so-called âdiscovery(link is external),â where its purposeful melding of its video content, AR effects, social interactions and influencer marketing will snare young people into its marketing âconversionâ(link is external) net.Last week, Mark Zuckerberg told(link is external) investors his vision of bringing âAI agents to billions of people,â as well as into his âmetaverseâ that will be populated by âavatars, objects, worlds, and codes to tieâ online and offline together. There will be, as previously reported, an AI-driven âdiscovery(link is external) engineâ that will âincrease the amount of suggested content to users.âThese developments reflect just a few of the AI- and VR-marketing-driven changes to the Meta system. They illustrate why responsible regulators and advocates must be in the forefront of holding this company accountable, especially with regard to its youth-targeting apparatus.Please also read(link is external) Fairplay for Kidsâ account of Metaâs long history of failing to protect children online.   metateensaivr0523fin.pdfJeff Chester
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Press Release
Reining In Metaâs Digital âWild Westâ as FTC protects young peopleâs safety, health and privacy
Reining In Metaâs Digital âWild Westâ as FTC protects young peopleâs safety, health and privacyContacts:Jeff Chester, CDD, 202-494-7100David Monahan, Fairplay, 781-315-2586Childrenâs advocates Fairplay and Center for Digital Democracy respond to todayâs announcement that the FTC proposes action to address Facebookâs privacy violations in practices impacting children and teens.  And see important new information compiled by Fairplay and CDD, linked below.Josh Golin, executive director, Fairplay:The action taken by the Federal Trade Commission against Meta is long overdue. For years, Meta has flouted the law and exploited millions of children and teens in their efforts to maximize profits, with little care as to the harms faced by young users on their platforms. The FTC has rightly recognized Meta simply cannot be trusted with young peopleâs sensitive data and proposed a remedy in line with Metaâs long history of abuse of children. We applaud the Commission for its efforts to hold Meta accountable and for taking a huge step toward creating the safe online ecosystem every young American deserves.Jeff Chester, executive director, Center for Digital Democracy:Todayâs action by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is a long-overdue intervention into what has become a huge national crisis for young people. Meta and its platforms are at the center of a powerful commercialized social media system that has spiraled out of control, threatening the mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents. The company has not done enough to address the problems caused by its unaccountable data-driven commercial platforms. Amid a continuing rise in shocking incidents of suicide, self-harm and online abuse, as well as exposĂŠs from industry âwhistleblowers,â Meta is unleashing even more powerful data gathering and targeting tactics fueled by immersive content, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, while pushing youth further into the metaverse with no meaningful safeguards. Parents and children urgently need the government to institute protections for the âdigital generationâ before it is too late. Todayâs action by the FTC limiting how Meta can use the data it gathers will bring critical protections to both children and teens. It will require Meta/Facebook to engage in a proper âdue diligenceâ process when launching new products targeting young peopleârather than its current method of ârelease first and address problems later approach.â The FTC deserve the thanks of U.S parents and others concerned about the privacy and welfare of our âdigital generation.âNEW REPORTS:META HAS A LONG HISTORY OF FAILING TO PROTECT CHILDREN ONLINE(link is external)(from Fairplay)METAâS VIRTUAL REALITY-BASED MARKETING APPARATUS POSES RISKS TO TEENS AND OTHERS(from CDD) -
Press Release
Advocates pledge support for landmark bill requiring online platforms to protect kids, teens with âsafety by designâ approach
Advocates Fairplay, Eating Disorders Coalition, Center for Digital Democracy, and others announce support of the newly reintroduced Kids Online Safety ActContact:David Monahan, Fairplay (david@fairplayforkids.org)Advocates pledge support for landmark bill requiring online platforms to protect kids, teens with âsafety by designâ approachAdvocates Fairplay, Eating Disorders Coalition, Center for Digital Democracy, and others announce support of the newly reintroduced Kids Online Safety ActBOSTON, MA and WASHINGTON, DC â May 2, 2023 â Today, a coalition of leading advocates for childrenâs rights, health, and privacy lauded the introduction of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a landmark bill that would create robust online protections for children and teens online. Among the advocates pledging support for KOSA are Fairplay, Eating Disorders Coalition, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, and Common Sense.KOSA, a bipartisan bill from Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Martha Blackburn (R-TN), would make online platforms and digital providers abide by a âduty of careâ requiring them to eliminate or mitigate the impact of harmful content on their platforms. The bill would also require platforms to default to the most protective settings for minors and enable independent researchers to access âblack boxâ algorithms to assist in research on algorithmic harms to children and teens.The reintroduction of the Kids Online Safety Act coincides with a rising tide of bipartisan support for action to protect children and teens online amidst a growing youth mental health crisis. A February report from the CDC showed that teen girls and LGBTQ+ youth are facing record levels of sadness and despair, and another report from Amnesty International indicated that 74% of youth check social media more than theyâd like.Fairplay Executive Director, Josh Golin:âFor far too long, Big Tech have been allowed to play by their own rules in a relentless pursuit of profit, with little regard for the damage done to the children and teens left in their wake. Companies like Meta and TikTok have made billions from hooking kids on their products by any means necessary, even promoting dangerous challenges, pro-eating disorder content, violence, drugs, and bigotry to the kids on their platforms. The Kids Online Safety Act stands to change all that. Today marks an exciting step toward the internet every young person needs and deserves, where children and teens can explore, socialize and learn without being caught in Big Tech crossfire.âNational Alliance for Eating Disorders CEO and EDC Board Member, Johanna Kandel:âThe Kids Online Safety Act is an integral first step in making social media platforms a safer place for our children. We need to hold these platforms accountable for their role in exposing our kids to harmful content, which is leading to declining mental health, higher rates of suicide, and eating disorders. As both a CEO of an eating disorders nonprofit and a mom of a young child, these new laws would go a long way in safeguarding the experiences our children have online.âCenter for Digital Democracy Deputy Director, Katharina Kopp:âThe Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), co-sponsored by Senators Blumenthal and Blackburn, will hold social media companies accountable for their role in the public health crisis that children and teens experience today. It will require platforms to make better design choices that ensure the well-being of young people. KOSA is urgently needed to stop online companies operating in ways that encourage self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, substance use, sexual exploitation, patterns of addiction-like behaviors, and other mental and physical threats. It also provides safeguards to address unfair digital marketing tactics. Children and teens deserve an online environment that is safe. KOSA will significantly reduce the harms that children, teens, and their families experience online every day.âChildren and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Children Development Executive Director, Kris Perry:âWe appreciate the Senatorsâ efforts to protect children in this increasingly complicated digital world. KOSA will allow access to critical datasets from online platforms for academic and research organizations. This data will facilitate scientific research to better understand the overarching impact social media has on child development."###kosa_reintro_pr.pdf -
Press Release
Statement from Childrenâs Advocacy Groups on New Social Media Bill by U.S. Senators Schatz and Cotton
Statement from Childrenâs Advocacy Groups on New Social Media Bill by U.S. Senators Schatz and CottonWashington, D.C., April 26, 2023â Several childrenâs advocacy groups expressed concern today with parts of a new bill intended to protect kids and teens from online harms. The bill, âThe Protecting Kids on Social Media Act,â was introduced this morning by U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Tom Cotton (R-AR).The groups, including Common Sense Media, Fairplay, and The Center for Digital Democracy, play a leading role on legislation in Congress to ensure that tech companies, and social media platforms in particular, are held accountable for the serious and sometimes deadly harms related to the design and operation of these platforms. They said the new bill is well-intentioned in the face of a youth mental health crisis and has some features that should be adopted, but that other aspects of the bill take the wrong approach to a serious problem.The groups said they support the billâs ban on algorithmic recommendation systems to minors, which would prevent platforms from using personal data of minors to amplify harmful content to them. However, they said they object to the fact that the bill places too many new burdens on parents and creates unrealistic bans and institutes potentially harmful parental control over minorsâ access to social media. By requiring parental consent before a teen can use a social media platform, vulnerable minors, including LGBTQ+ kids and kids who live in unsupportive households, may be cut off from access to needed resources and community. At the same time, kids and teens could pressure their parents or guardians to provide consent. Once young users make it onto the platform, they will still be exposed to addictive or unsafe design features beyond algorithmic recommendation systems, such as endless scroll and autoplay. The billâs age verification measures also introduce troubling implications for the privacy of all users, given the requirement for covered companies to verify the age of both adult and minor users. Despite its importance, there is currently no consensus on how to implement age verification measures without compromising usersâ privacy. The groups said that they strongly support other legislation that establish important guardrails on platforms and other tech companies to make the internet a healthier and safer place for kids and families, for example the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), COPPA 2.0, bi-partisan legislation that was approved last year by the Senate Commerce Committee and expected to be reintroduced again this year.âWe appreciate Senators Schatz and Cotton's effort to protect kids and teens online and we look forward to working with them as we have with many Senators and House members over the past several years. But this is a life or death issue for families and we have to be very careful about how to protect kids online. The truth is, some approaches to the problem of online harms to kids risk further harming kids and families,â said James P. Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media. âCongress should place the onus on companies to make the internet safer for kids and teens and avoid placing the government in the middle of the parent-child relationship. Congress has many good policy options already under consideration and should act on them now to make the internet healthier and safer for kids.ââWe are grateful to Senators Schatz, Cotton, Britt and Murphy for their efforts to improve the online environment for young people but are deeply concerned their bill is not not the right approach,â said Josh Golin, Executive Director of Fairplay. â Young people deserve secure online spaces where they can safely and autonomously socialize, connect with peers, learn, and explore. But the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act does not get us any closer to a safer internet for kids and teens. Instead, if this legislation passes, parents will face the same exact conundrum they face today: Do they allow their kids to use social media and be exposed to serious online harms, or do they isolate their children from their peers? We need legislative solutions that put the burden on companies to make their platforms safer, less exploitative, and less addictive, instead of putting even more on parentsâ plates.â"Itâs critical that social media platforms are held accountable for the harmful impacts their practices have on children and teens. However, this billâs approach is misguided. It places too much of a burden on parents, instead of focusing on platformsâ business practices that have produced the unprecedented public health crisis that harms our childrenâs physical and mental well-being. Kids and teens should not be locked out of our digital worlds, but be allowed online where they can be safe and develop in age-appropriate ways. One of the unintended consequences of this bill will likely be a two-tiered online system, where poor and otherwise disadvantaged parents and their children will be excluded from digital worlds. What we need are policies that hold social media companies truly accountable, so all young people can thrive,â said Katharina Kopp, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the Center for Digital Democracy.schatz-cotton_bill_coalition_statement.pdf -
Press Release
Advocates, experts urge Mark Zuckerberg to cancel plans to allow minors in Metaâs flagship Metaverse platform
Citing research that illustrates a number of serious risks to children and teens in the Metaverse, advocates say Meta must wait for more research and root out dangers before targeting youth in VR. BOSTON, MA, WASHINGTON, DC and LONDON, UK â Friday, April 14, 2023 â Today, a coalition of over 70 leading experts and advocates for health, privacy, and childrenâs rights are urging Meta to abandon plans to allow minors between the ages of 13 and 17 into Horizon Worlds, Metaâs flagship virtual reality platform. Led by Fairplay, the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), and the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), the advocates underscored the dearth of research on the impact of time spent in the Metaverse on the health and wellbeing of youth as well as the companyâs track record of putting profits ahead of childrenâs safety. The advocatesâ letter maintained that the Metaverse is already unsuitable for use by children and teens, citing March 2023 research from CCDH which revealed that minors already using Horizon Worlds were routinely exposed to harassment and abuseâincluding sexually explicit insults and racist, misogynistic, and homophobic harassmentâand other offensive content. In addition to the existing risks present in Horizon Worlds, the advocatesâ letter outlined a variety of potential risks facing underage users in the Metaverse, including magnified risks to privacy through the collection of biomarkers, risks to youth mental health and wellbeing, and the risk of discrimination, among others.In addition to Fairplay, CDD, and CCDH, the 36 organizations signing on include Common Sense Media, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), Public Citizen, and the Eating Disorders Coalition.The 37 individual signatories include: Richard Gephardt of the Council for Responsible Social Media, former Member of Congress and House Majority Leader; Sherry Turkle, MIT Professor and author of Alone Together and Reclaiming Conversation; and social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt.Josh Golin, Executive Director, Fairplay:âIt's beyond appalling that Mark Zuckerberg wants to save his failing Horizons World platform by targeting teens. Already, children are being exposed to homophobia, racism, sexism, and other reprehensible content on Horizon Worlds. The fact that Mr. Zuckerberg is even considering such an ill-formed and dangerous idea speaks to why we need Congress to pass COPPA 2.0 and the Kids Online Safety Act.âKatharina Kopp, PhD, Deputy Director, Center for Digital Democracy:âMeta is demonstrating once again that it doesnât consider the best interest of young people when it develops plans to expand its business operations.  Before it considers opening its Horizon Worlds metaverse operation to teens, it should first commit to fully exploring the potential consequences.  That includes engaging in an independent and research-based effort addressing the impact of virtual experiences on young peopleâs mental and physical well-being, privacy, safety, and potential exposure to hate and other harmful content.  It should also ensure that minors donât face forms of discrimination in the virtual world, which tends to perpetuate and exacerbate âreal lifeâ inequities.âMark Bertin, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at New York Medical College, former Director of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics at the Westchester Institute for Human Development, author of The Family ADHD Solution, Mindful Parenting for ADHD, and How Children Thrive:âThis isn't like the panic over rock and roll, where a bunch of old folks freaked out over nothing. Countless studies already describe the harmful impact of Big Tech products on young people, and itâs worsening a teen mental health crisis. We can't afford to let profit-driven companies launch untested projects targeted at kids and teens and let families pick up the pieces after. It is crucial for the well-being of our children that we understand what is safe and healthy first.â Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate:âMeta is making the same mistake with Horizon Worlds that it made with Facebook and Instagram. They have prioritized profit over safety in their design of the product, failed to provide meaningful transparency, and refused to take responsibility for ensuring worlds are safe, especially for children.âYet again, their aim is speed to market in order to achieve monopoly status â rather than building truly sustainable, productive and enjoyable environments in which people feel empowered and safe.âWhereas, to some, âmove fast and break thingsâ may have appeared swashbuckling from young startup entrepreneurs, it is a brazenly irresponsible strategy coming from Meta, one of the worldâs richest companies. It should have learned lessons from the harms their earlier products imposed on society, our democracies and our citizens.âhorizonletter.pdfJeff Chester -
Press Release
Advocates called for investigation of Amazon's Echo Dot Kids Edition, Federal Regulators Now Poised to Act
Reports indicate FTC plans to advance case against Amazon for violation of kidsâ privacy after advocatesâ 2019 complaint. BOSTON, MA and WASHINGTON, DC â Friday, March 31, 2023 â Following a groundbreaking investigation of Amazonâs Echo Dot Kids by Fairplay and Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), the Federal Trade Commission is preparing to advance a case against Amazon for the companyâs violations of childrenâs privacy law to the Department of Justice. According to new reporting from Politico, the case centers on Amazonâs violations of the Childrenâs Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) through its Alexa voice assistant.In 2019, privacy advocates Fairplay and CDD called for the FTC to take action against Amazon after an investigation of the companyâs Echo Dot Kids smart home assistant, a candy-colored version of Amazonâs flagship home assistant with Alexa voice technology. The investigationrevealed a number of shocking illegal privacy violations, including Amazonâs indefinite retention of kidsâ sensitive data even after parents requested for it to be deleted. Now, reports indicate that the FTC is acting on the advocatesâ calls for investigation.âWeâre thrilled that the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice are close to taking action against Amazon for its egregious violations of childrenâs privacy,â said Josh Golin, Executive Director of Fairplay. âWe know itâs not just social media platforms and apps thatmisuse childrenâs sensitive data. This landmark case would be the first time the FTC sanctioned the maker of a voice-enabled device for flouting COPPA. Amazon and its Big Tech peers must learn that COPPA violations are not just a cost of doing business.â âIt is time for the FTC to address the rampant commercial surveillance of children via Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as Amazonâs Echo, and enforce existing law,â said Katharina Kopp, Director of Policy at Center for Digital Democracy. âChildren are giving away sensitive personal data on a massive scale via IoT devices, including their voice recordings and data gleaned from kidsâ viewing, reading, listening, and purchasing habits. These data practices lead to violating childrenâs privacy, to manipulating them into being interested in harmful products, undermining their autonomy, and to perpetuating discrimination and bias. Both the FTC and the Department of Justice must hold Amazon accountable.â[see attached for additional comments] ftc_amazon_investigation_statement_fairplay_cdd.pdfJeff Chester -
Consumer Advocates Urge Action Walmart Deceptively Marketing to Kids on RobloxConsumer Advocates Urge ActionMADISON, CONN. January 23, 2023 â A coalition of advocacy groups led by ad watchdog truthinadvertising.org (TINA.org) is urging the Childrenâs Advertising Review Unit (CARU) â a BBB National Program â to immediately audit the Walmart Universe of Play advergame, a recent addition to the self-regulatory groupâs COPPA Safe Harbor Program and bearer of one of the Programâs certification seals. According to a letter from TINA.org, Fairplay, Center for Digital Democracy and the National Association of Consumer Advocates, a copy of which was sent to Walmart, Roblox and the FTC, the retail giant is exposing children to deceptive marketing on Roblox, the online gaming and creation platform used by millions of kids on a daily basis.Walmartâs first foray into the Roblox metaverse came last September, when it premiered two experiences, Walmart Universe of Play and Walmart Land, which collectively have been visited more than 12 million times. Targeted at â and accessible to â young children on Roblox, Universe of Play features virtual products and characters from L.O.L. Surprise!, Jurassic World, Paw Patrol, and more and is advertised to allow kids to play with the âyearâs best toysâ and make a âwish listâ of toys that can then be purchased at Walmart.As the consumer groups warn, Walmart completely blurs the distinction between advertising content and organic content, and simultaneously fails to provide clear or conspicuous disclosures that Universe of Play (or content within the virtual world) are ads. In addition, as kidsâ avatars walk through the game, they are manipulated into opening additional undisclosed advertisements disguised as surprise wrapped gifts.To make matters worse, Walmart is using the CARU COPPA Safe Harbor Program seal to convey the false message that its childrenâs advergame is not only in compliance with COPPA (Childrenâs Online Privacy Protection Act), but CARU's Advertising Guidelines and truth-in-advertising laws, as well as a shield against enforcement action.âWalmartâs brazen use of stealth marketing directed at young children who are developmentally unable to recognize the promotional content is not only appalling, itâs deceptive and against truth-in-advertising laws. We urge CARU to take swift action to protect the millions of children being manipulated by Walmart on a daily basis.â Laura Smith, TINA.org Legal DirectorâWalmart's egregious and rampant manipulation of children on Roblox -- a platform visited by millions of children every day -- demands immediate action. The rise of the metaverse has enabled a new category of deceptive marketing practices that are harmful to children. CARU must act now to ensure that children are not collateral damage in Walmart's digital drive for profit.â Josh Golin, Executive Director, FairplayâWalmartâs and Robloxâs practices demonstrate that self-regulation is woefully insufficient to protect children and teens online. Today, young people are targeted by a powerful set of online marketing tactics that are manipulative, unfair, and harmful to their mental and physical health. Digital advertising operates in a âwild westâ world where anything goes in terms of reaching and influencing the behaviors of kids and teens. Congress and the Federal Trade Commission must enact safeguards to protect the privacy and well-being of a generation of young people.â Katharina Kopp, Director of Policy, Center for Digital DemocracyTo read more about Walmartâs deceptive marketing on Roblox see: /articles/tina-org-urges-action-against-walmarts-undisclosed-advergame-on-robloxAbout TINA.org (truthinadvertising.org) TINA.org is a nonprofit organization that uses investigative journalism, education, and advocacy to empower consumers to protect themselves against false advertising and deceptive marketing.About Fairplay Fairplay is the leading nonprofit organization committed to helping children thrive in an increasingly commercialized, screen-obsessed culture, and the only organization dedicated to ending marketing to children.About Center for Digital DemocracyThe Center for Digital Democracy is a nonprofit organization using education, advocacy, and research into commercial data practices to ensure that digital technologies serve and strengthen democratic values, institutions, and processes.About National Association of Consumer AdvocatesThe National Association of Consumer Advocates is a nonprofit association of more than 1,500 attorneys and consumer advocates committed to representing consumersâ interests.For press inquiries contact: Shana Mueller at 203.421.6210 or press@truthinadvertising.org.walmart_caru_press_release_final.pdf
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Josh Golin, executive director, Fairplay:The FTCâs landmark settlement against Epic Games is an enormous step forward towards creating a safer, less manipulative internet for children and teens. Not only is the Commission holding Epic accountable for violating COPPA by illegally collecting the data of millions of under 13-year-olds, but the settlement is also a shot across the bow against game makers who use unfair practices to drive in-game purchases by young people. The settlement rightly recognizes not only that unfair monetization practices harm young people financially, but that design choices used to drive purchases subject young people to a wide array of dangers, including cyberbullying and predation.Todayâs breakthrough settlement underscores why it is so critical that Congress pass the privacy protections for children and teens currently under consideration for the Omnibus bill. These provisions give teens privacy rights for the first time, address unfair monetization by prohibiting targeted advertising, and empower regulators by creating a dedicated youth division at the FTC. Jeff Chester, executive director, Center for Digital Democracy:Through this settlement with EPIC Games using its vital power to regulate unfair business practices, the FTC has extended long-overdue and critically important online protections for teens. This tells online marketers that from now on, teenagers cannot be targeted using unfair and manipulative tactics designed to take advantage of their young age and other vulnerabilities.Kids should also have their data privacy rights better respected through this enforcement of the federal kids data privacy law (COPPA). Gaming is a âwild westâ when it comes to its data gathering and online marketing tactics, placing young people among the half of the US population who play video games at especially greater risk. While todayâs FTC action creates new safeguards for young people, Congress has a rare opportunity to pass legislation this week ensuring all kids and teens have strong digital safeguards, regardless of what online service they use.Jeff Chester
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Commercial Surveillance expands via the "Big" Screen in the Home Televisions now view and analyze usâthe programs we watch, what shows we click on to consider or save, and the content reflected on the âglassâ of our screens. On âsmartâ or connected TVs, streaming TV applications have been engineered to fully deliver the forces of commercial surveillance. Operating stealthily inside digital television sets and streaming video devices is an array of sophisticated âadtechâ software. These technologies enable programmers, advertisers and even TV set manufacturers to build profiles used to generate data-driven, tailored ads to specific individuals or households. These developments raise important questions for those concerned about the transparency and regulation of political advertising in the United States.Also known as âOTTâ (âover-the-topâ since the video signal is delivered without relying on traditional set-top cable TV boxes), the streaming TV industry incorporates the same online advertising techniques employed by other digital marketers. This includes harvesting a cornucopia of information on viewers through alliances with leading data-brokers. More than 80 percent of Americans now use some form of streaming or Smart TV-connected video service. Given such penetration, it is no surprise that streaming TV advertising is playing an important role in the upcoming midterm elections. And, streaming TV will be an especially critical channel for campaigns to vie for voters in 2024. Unlike political advertising on broadcast television or much of cable TV, which is generally transmitted broadly to a defined geographic market area, âaddressableâ streaming video ads appear in programs advertisers know you actually watch (using technologies such as dynamic ad insertion). Messaging for these ads can also be fine-tuned as a campaign progresses, to make the message more relevant to the intended viewer. For example, if you watch a political ad and then sign up to receive campaign literature, the next TV commercial from a candidate or PAC can be crafted to reflect that action. Or, if your data profile says you are concerned about the costs of healthcare, you may see a different pitch than your nextdoor neighbor who has other interests. Given the abundance of data available on households, including demographic details such as race and ethnicity, there will also be finely tuned pitches aimed at distinct subcultures produced in multiple languages.An estimated $1.4 billion dollars will be spent on streaming political ads for the midterms (part of an overall $9 billion in ad expenditures). With more people âcutting the cordâ by signing up for cheaper, ad-supported streaming services, advances in TV technologies to enable personalized data-driven ad targeting, and the integration of streaming TV as a key component of the overall online marketing apparatus, it is evident that the TV business has changed. Even whatâs considered traditional broadcasting has been transformed by digital ad technologies. Thatâs why itâs time to enact policy safeguards to ensure integrity, fairness, transparency and privacy for political advertising on streaming TV. Today, streaming TV political ads already combine information from voter records with online and offline consumer profile data in order to generate highly targeted messages. By harvesting information related to a personâs race and ethnicity, finances, health concerns, behavior, geolocation, and overall digital media use, marketers can deliver ads tied to our needs and interests. In light of this unprecedented marketing power and precision, new regulations are needed to protect consumer privacy and civic discourse alike. In addition to ensuring voter privacy, so personal data canât be as readily used as it is today, the messaging and construction of streaming political ads must also be accountable. Merely requiring the disclosure of who is buying these ads is insufficient. The U.S. should enact a set of rules to ensure that the tens of thousands of one-to-one streaming TV ads donât promote misleading or false claims, or engage in voter suppression and other forms of manipulation. Journalists and campaign watchdogs must have the ability to review and analyze ads, and political campaigns need to identify how they were constructedâincluding the information provided by data brokers and how a potential voterâs viewing behaviors were analyzed (such as with increasingly sophisticated machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms). For example, data companies such as Acxiom, Experian, Ninth Decimal, Catalina and LiveRamp help fuel the digital video advertising surveillance apparatus. Campaign-spending reform advocates should be concerned. To make targeted streaming TV advertising as effective as possible will likely require serious amounts of moneyâfor the data, analytics, marketing and distribution. Increasingly, key gatekeepers control much of the streaming TV landscape, and purchasing rights to target the most âdesirableâ people could face obstacles. For example, smart TV makersâ such as LG, Roku, Vizio and Samsungâ have developed their own exclusive streaming advertising marketplaces. Their smart TVs use whatâs called ACRââautomated content recognitionââto collect data that enables them to analyze what appears on our screensââsecond by second.â An âexclusive partnership to bring premium OTT inventory to political clientsâ was recently announced by LG and cable giant Alticeâs ad division. This partnership will enable political campaigns that qualify to access 30 million households via Smart TVs, as well as the ability to reach millions of other screens in households known to Altice. Connected TVs also provide online marketers with what is increasingly viewed as essential for contemporary digital advertisingâaccess to a personâs actual identity information (called âfirst-partyâ data). Streaming TV companies hope to gain permission to use subscriber information in many other ways. This practice illustrates why the Federal Trade Commissionâs (FTC) current initiative designed to regulate commercial surveillance, now in its initial stage, is so important. Many of the critical issues involving streaming political advertising could be addressed through strong rules on privacy and online consumer protection. For example, there is absolutely no reason why any marketer can so easily obtain all the information used to target us, such as our ethnicity, income, purchase history, and educationâto name only a few of the variables available for sale. Nor should the FTC allow online marketers to engage in unfair and largely stealth tactics when creating digital adsâincluding the use of neuroscience to test messages to ensure they respond directly to our subconscious. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which has largely failed to address 21st century video issues, should conduct its own inquiry âin the public interest.â There is also a role here for the states, reflecting their laws on campaign advertising as well as ensuring the privacy of streaming TV viewers.This is precisely the time for policies on streaming video, as the industry becomes much more reliant on advertising and data collection. Dozens of new ad-supported streaming TV networks are emergingâknown as FAST channels (Free Ad Supported TV)âwhich offer a slate of scheduled shows with commercials. Netflix and Disney+, as well as Amazon, have or are soon adopting ad-supported viewing. There are also coordinated industry-wide efforts to perfect ways to more efficiently target and track streaming viewers that involve advertisers, programmers and device companies. Without regulation, the U.S. streaming TV system will be a ârerunâ of what we historically experienced with cable TVâdashed expectations of a medium that could be truly diverseâinstead of a monopolyâand also offer both programmers and viewers greater opportunities for creative expression and public service. Only those with the economic means will be able to afford to âopt-outâ of the advertising and some of the data surveillance on streaming networks. And political campaigns will be allowed to reach individual voters without worry about privacy and the honesty of their messaging. Both the FTC and FCC, and Congress if it can muster the will, have an opportunity to make streaming TV a well-regulated, important channel for democracy. Now is the time for policymakers to tune in.***This essay was originally published by Tech Policy Press.Support for the Center for Digital Democracyâs review of the streaming video market is provided by the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment.Jeff Chester
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Discussion by Jeff Chester at the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance Alcohol Marketers are now big data companies.  They are also commercial surveillance marketing enterprises, which is how data driven digital marketing is increasingly described by regulators and critics.  Like many other global industries, alcohol marketing uses an ever expanding set of diverse and sophisticated online and offline techniques designed to identify and deeply influence its target audiences.  Alcoholic beverage companies have broadly adopted the business model and tactics perfected by Google, Meta/Facebook, and Amazon. This includes âomnichannelâ marketing operations that identify a single person and follow them on their various devices, such as gaming, mobile, and streaming.   The alcoholic beverage industry engages in cutting edge digital marketing campaigns throughout the world.  However, the use of contemporary marketing techniques for alcoholic beverages enables us to use various regulatory and other legal tools to protect public health and the public at large.  That includes pursuing various privacy complaints, across state, national or regional data protection regulators (as well as class actions where possible); developing related complaints for consumer protection regulators on the kinds of unfair advertising practices that embody digital marketing, such as the use of neuromarketing to influence subconscious and emotional processes; the reliance on âimmersiveâ ad applications involving virtual and augmented reality (such as metaverse), whose effects also impact non rational processes; the role of influencers used to penetrate youth culture to promote the brand; and, on the data practices itself, the widespread adoption of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence systems to generate predictive and personalized marketing plans on individuals, groups and communities.  Another critical aspect of data marketing, as we know, is the gathering and use of a host of data on peopleâtheir race, ethnicity, income, health concerns, geolocation, etc., that when assembled in todayâs real-time online marketing machine are used to reach us with a highly informed assessment of who we are and what we do.  In addition to regulation and judicial recourse, there are also the public shaming aspects that can be generated through the news media and other informational campaigns.I will summarize several of the troubling practices of the alcohol marketing industry today that could form the basis for potential regulatory interventions.The use of Big Data operations:  As leading advertisers, alcoholic beverage companies already hold a vastâand growing--array of data on their customers and targets.  For example, AB InBev relies on [quote] 1000 different data sources and has more than 70.1 million unique customer records [unquote].  Its data sources include information gathered thru mobile devices, social media, and ecommerce, among others.   AB InBev has invested in the latest technologies to consolidate, manage and make actionable this information, including Data Management Platforms (DMPsâwhich integrate and analyze diverse data points) that help identify and target an individual.  Through state-of-the-art online campaigns, companies like ABInBev  collect huge amounts of key data.  For example, the company created a platform in Columbia not long agoâ[quote] âa central online store where customers could share their location and place their order which was then sent via Whatsapp to their local grocer to be fulfilledâŚit digitized every (convenience) store, in every corner, in every block, in every neighborhood and connected themâ [unquote] to its online store. Pervasive Surveillance on social media used for insight generation.  Alcohol companies deploy abundant âsocial listeningâ strategies that use sentiment mining, AI-driven computer vision and other tools to understand what is being said, by who and where, about the brand or topics that can be better leveraged for marketing; for example, to help pinpoint who are the most influential or useful voices to reach out to.   Much of this work is conducted 24/7 with real-time capabilities to take advantage of what is identified.  E-commerce: Online is increasingly an environment that seamlessly merges content, sales, marketing, and payment.  Alcoholic beverage companies are taking advantage of the powerful data driven promotion engines that operate these online sales channels, to make sure you see its product, place it in the shopping cart, and buy it.  Leading grocery and retail companies have also established their own highly developed online marketing operations that work with alcoholic beverages and other brands to showcase them on their e-commerce and online marketing sites; another source of privacy concern, as data sets merge].The use of neuroscience and other emotional technologies. Used to identify how to trigger non-rational responses to marketing, including measuring the emotional intensity of an ad as well as assessing how well a personâs memory encodes that message.  Alcohol companies (and many others) hook subjects up to EEGs and other similar tech to map their brainwaves responses to ads and content. Then an ad or message is honed and deployed.  These tools are also used âin flightâ [during a running ad campaign] to correct errors and fine-tune their impact.Repositioning themselves as providers of economic opportunity and social good.  A recent trend by alcohol marketers is to position itself as generating economic opportunity for small businesses, as a strategy to deepen its connections for data.  For example, in Brazil last year during Carnival, one alcoholic beverages company used emails, push notifications, text messaging, an app, ecommerce platform, personalized QR codes and social media to support nearly 11,000 street vendors working out of their homes that ended up selling 200,000 of the brandâs products.  It established a critical digital link between the vendors, the alcohol brand, and its customers. Providers of technology:  This is especially true with branded alcoholic beverage company mobile apps, which are a key source of data gathering, monitoring of consumer behaviors (inc. geolocation), enrollment in loyalty programs and becomes an immediate influence and marketing channel. These apps are aksi used for sales and payments, creating another highly valuable data source.Penetrating further into the community.  Mobile and other digital marketing tech enables highly targeted, geo-aware, campaigns.  For example, in South Africa one brandâas part of a wider social media effortâused whatâs known as DOOHâgiving away software while encouraging its targets to [quote] create a personalized shout out to someone special and then select a digital billboard at a specific location for their message to be displayed on. [unquote]. Finally, creating impressive online experiences--such as music events to connect to youth.  In China, Jagermeister, who knew it was loosing its youth demographic, created [quote] âtwo days-worth of performance lineups and subculture experiencesâ [unquote] with livestreaming music and other ways to engage and interact with its young audience.  This event claimed to reach 200m impressions.  There are many more examples of such experiential virtual campaigns by alcoholic beverages companies.Policy Options:This is an optimum time to seek safeguards regarding the marketing of alcoholic beverages, to both underage consumers as well as address public health concerns overall on adult consumption.  Concern over the loss of privacy and autonomy, as well as its impact on youth development and health, is fueling greater interest by policymakers to regulate digital marketing. For example, here in the U.S. we have a new proposed rulemaking on surveillance marketing by the Federal Trade Commission, which offers multiple opportunities for the public health community to call for safeguards.    In the EU, there is the GDPR, Digital Services Act and other consumer legislation at the national and EU level that can be consideed.  The UKâs privacy commissioner has begun to enforce its new âDesign Codeâ that governs how the online industry interacts with children and adolescents.  There are data protection commissioners in many countries, as well as varying laws, that should be assessed.   To advance these opportunities, public health advocates will likely find support from the global community of public interest privacy and consumer protection NGOs and scholars, who could be enlisted to identify the potential remedies and develop the appropriate regulatory complaints.   The WHO, of course, is in the forefront of documenting many of the practices weâve discussed, including its recent work on digital marketing on unhealthy foods and beverages, breast milk substitutes, and alcohol marketing.  As these reports show, and as this conference reflects, the significant advances by these producers and marketers into the digital sphere, which operates now as such a key force in our lives, should be challenged.  Limits and expectations for this industry should be set, along with ongoing research into the effects of such marketing as well as analyzing its marketing operations. With timely action, we might be able to set a healthier course for the role that alcoholic beverages can play in our societies.  Thank you.Jeff Chester
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A coalition of more than 100 organizations is sending two letters to Congress urging action. A letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, from 145 organizations, urges them to advance KOSA and COPPA to full Senate votes. A letter addressed to House Energy and Commerce Chair Frank Pallone and Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, from 158 organizations, urges them to introduce a House companion bill to KOSA. The advocates state in the letter to the Senate: âThe enormity of the youth mental health crisis needs to be addressed as the very real harms of social media are impacting our children today. Taken together, the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teensâ Online Privacy Protection Act would prevent online platforms from exploiting young usersâ developmental vulnerabilities and targeting them in unfair and harmful ways.â kosa_coppa_senate_leadership_letter_final_9.12.22-1.pdf, eandc_leadership_kosa_letter_final_9.12.22-1.pdf, kosa_coppa_rally_press_release_embargo_to_9_13.pdf
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Press Release
Press Statement regarding todayâs FTC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding the Commercial Surveillance and Data Security
Press Statement regarding todayâs FTC Notice(link is external) of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding the Commercial Surveillance and Data SecurityKatharina Kopp, Deputy Director, Center for Digital Democracy:Today, the Federal Trade Commission issued its long overdue advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) regarding a trade regulation rule on commercial surveillance and data security. The ANPRM aims to address the prevalent and increasingly unavoidable harms of commercial surveillance. Civil society groups including civil rights groups, privacy and digital rights and childrenâs advocates had previously called on the commission to initiate this trade regulation rule to address the decades long failings of the commission to reign in predatory corporate practices online. CDD had called on the commission repeatedly over the last two decades to address the out-of-control surveillance advertising apparatus that is the root cause of increasingly unfair, manipulative, and discriminatory practices harming children, teens, and adults and which have a particularly negative impact on equal opportunity and equity.The Center for Digital Democracy welcomes this important initial step by the commission and looks forward to working with the FTC. CDD urges the commission to move forward expeditiously with the rule making and to ensure fair participation of stakeholders, particularly those that are disproportionately harmed by commercial surveillance.press_statement_8-11fin.pdf -
Blog
Protecting Children and Teens from Unfair and Deceptive Marketing, including Stealth Advertising
CDD Comments to FTC for "Stealth" Marketing Inquiry The Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) urges the FTC to develop and implement a set of policies designed to protect minors under 18 from being subjected to a host of pervasive, sophisticated and data-driven digital marketing practices. Children and teens are targeted by an integrated set of online marketing operations that are manipulative, unfair, invasive and can be especially harmful to their mental and physical health. The commission should make abundantly clear at the forthcoming October workshop that it understands that the many problems generated by contemporary digital marketing to youth transcend narrow categories such as âstealth advertisingâ and âblurred content.â Nor should it propose âdisclosuresâ as a serious remedy, given the ways advertising is designed using data science, biometrics, social relationships and other tactics. Much of todayâs commercially supported online system is purposefully developed to operate as âstealthââfrom product development, to deployment, to targeting, tracking and measurement. Age-based cognitive development capacities to deal with advertising, largely based on pre-digital (especially TV) research, simply donât correspond to the methods used today to market to young people. CDD calls on the commission to acknowledge that children and teenagers have been swept into a far reaching commercial surveillance apparatus.The commission should propose a range of safeguards to protect young people from the current âwild westâ of omnichannel directed at them. These safeguards should address, for example, the role market research and testing of child and teen-directed commercial applications and messaging play in the development of advertising; how neuromarketing[pdf] practices designed to leverage a young personâs emotions and subconscious are used to deliver âimplicit persuasionâ; the integration by marketers and platforms of âimmersiveâ applications, including augmented and virtual reality, designed to imprint brand and other commercial messages; the array of influencer-based strategies, including the extensive infrastructure used by platforms and advertisers to deliver, track and measure their impact; the integration of online marketing with Internet of Things objects, including product packaging and the role of QR codes, (experiential marketing) and digital out-of-the-home advertising screens; as well as contemporary data marketing operations that use machine learning and artificial intelligence to open up new ways for advertisers to reach young people online. AI services increasingly deliver personalized content online, further automating the advertising process to respond in real-time.It is also long overdue for the FTC to investigate and address how online marketing targets youth of color, who are subjected to a variety of advertising practices little examined by privacy and other regulators.The FTC should use all its authority and power to stop data-driven surveillance marketing to young people under 18; end the role sponsored influencers play; enact rules designed to protect the online privacy for teens 13-17 who are now subjected to ongoing tracking by marketers; and propose policies to redress the core methods employed by digital advertisers and online platforms to lure both children and teens. For more than 20 years, CDD and its allies have urged the FTC to address the ways digital marketing has undermined consumer protection and privacy, especially for children and adolescents. Since the earliest years of the commercial internet, online marketers have focused on young people, both for the revenues they deliver as well as to secure loyalty from what the commercial marketing industry referred to as ânativeâ users. The threat to their privacy, as well as to their security and well-being, led to the complaint our predecessor organization filed in 1996, which spurred the passage of the Childrenâs Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in 1998. COPPA has played a modest role protecting some younger children from experiencing the totality of the commercial surveillance marketing system. However, persistent failures of the commission to enforce COPPA; the lack of protections for adolescents (despite decades-long calls by advocates for the agency to act on this issue); and a risk-averse approach to addressing the methods employed by the digital advertising, even when applied to young people, have created ongoing threats to their privacy, consumer protection and public health. In this regard, we urge the commission to closely review the comments submitted in this proceeding by our colleague Fairplay and allies. We are pleased Fairplay supports these comments.If the FTC is to confront how the forces of commercial digital surveillance impact the general public, the building blocks to help do so can be found in this proceeding. Young people are exposed to the same unaccountable forces that are everywhere online: a largely invisible, ubiquitous, and machine-intelligence-driven system that tracks and assesses our every move, using an array of direct and indirect techniques to influence behaviors. If done correctly, this proceeding can help inform a larger policy blueprint for what policy safeguards are neededâfor young people and for everyone else.The commission should start by reviewing how digital marketing and data-gathering advertising applications are âbaked inâ at the earliest stages of online content and device development. These design and testing practices have a direct impact on young people. Interactive advertising standards groups assess and certify a host of approved ad formats, including for gaming, mobile, native advertising, and streaming video. Data practices for digital advertising, including ways that ads are delivered through the behavioral/programmatic surveillance engines, as well as their measurement, are developed through collaborative work involving trade organizations and leading companies. Platforms such as Meta, as well as ad agencies, adtech companies, and brands, also have their own variations of these widely adopted formats and approaches. The industry-operated standards process for identifying new methods for digital advertising, including the real-world deployment of applications such âplayableâ ads or the ways advertisers can change its personalized messaging in real-time, have never been seriously investigated by the commission. A review of the companies involved show that many are engaged in digital marketing to young people.Another critical building block of contemporary digital marketing to address when dealing with youth-directed advertising is the role of âengagement.â As far back as 2006, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) recognized that to effectively secure the involvement of individuals with marketing communications, at both the subconscious and conscious levels, it was necessary to define and measure the concept of engagement. IAB initially defined âEngagement⌠[as] turning on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context..â By 2012, there were more elaborate definitions identifying âthree major forms of engagement⌠cognitive, physical and emotional.â A set of corresponding metrics, or measurement tools, were used, including those tracking âattentionâ (âawareness, interest, intentionâ); emotional and motor functioning identified through biometrics (âheart palpitations, pupil dilation, eye trackingâ); and through omnipresent tracking of online behaviors (âviewability and dwell time, user initiated interaction, clicks, conversions, video play rate, game playâ). Today, research and corresponding implementation strategies for engagement are an ongoing feature for the surveillance-marketing economy. This includes conducting research and implementing data-driven and other ad strategies targeting childrenâknown as âGeneration Alphaââchildren 11 and youngerâand teensââGeneration Z.âWe will briefly highlight some crucial areas this proceeding should address:Marketing and product research on children and adolescents: An extensive system designed to ensure that commercial online content, including advertising and marketing, effectively solicits the interest and participation of young people, is a core feature of the surveillance economy. A host of companies are engaged in multi-dimensional market research, including panels, labs, platforms, streaming media companies, studios and networks, that have a direct impact on the methods used to advertise and market to youth. CDD believes that such product testing, which can rely on a range of measures designed to promote âimplicit persuasionâ should be considered an unfair practice generally. Since CDD and U.S. PIRG first urged the commission to investigate neuromarketing more than a decade ago, this practice has in ways that enable it to play a greater role influencing how content and advertising is delivered to young people.For example, MediaScience (which began as the Disney Media and Advertising Lab), serves major clients including Disney, Google, Warner Media, TikTok, Paramount, Fox and Mars. It conducts research for platforms and brands using such tools as âneurometrics (skin conductivity and heart rate), eye tracking, facial coding, and EEGs, among others, that assess a personâs responses across devices. Research is also conducted outside of the lab setting, such as directly through a subjectâs âactual Facebook feed.â It has a panel of 80,000 households in the U.S., where it can deliver digital testing applications using a âvariety of experimental designs⌠facilitated in the comfort of peopleâs homes.â The company operates a âKidsâ and âTeensâ media research panel. Emblematic of the far-reaching research conducted by platforms, agencies and brands, in 2021 TikTokâs âMarketing Science teamâ commissioned MediaScience to use neuromarketing research to test âstrong brand recall and positive sentiment across various view durations.â The findings indicated that âads on TikTok see strong brand recall regardless of view durationâŚ. Regardless of how long an ad stays on screen, TikTok draws early attention and physiological engagement in the first few seconds.âNBCUniversal is one of the companies leveraging the growing field of âemotional analyticsâ to help advance advertising for streaming and other video outlets. Comcastâs NBCU is using âfacial coding and eye-tracking AI to learn an audienceâs emotional response to a specific ad.â Candy company Mars just won a âBest Use of Artificial Intelligenceâ award for its âAgile Creative Expertise (ACE) tool that âtracks attentional and emotional response to digital video ads.â Mars is partnering with neuromarketer Realeyes to âmeasure how audienceâs attention levels respond as they view Mars' ads.Knowing what captures and retains attention or even what causes distraction, generated intelligence that enabled Mars to optimize the creative itself or the selection of the best performing ads across platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.â TikTok, Meta/Facebook, and Google have all used a variety of neuromarketing measures. The Neuromarketing Science and Business Association (NMSBA) includes many of the leading companies in this field as members. There is also an âAttention Councilâ within the digital marketing industry to help advance these practices, involving Microsoft, Mars, Coca-Cola, AB/InBev, and others. A commercial research infrastructure provides a steady drumbeat of insights so that marketers can better target young people on digital devices. Childrenâs streaming video company Wildbrain, for example, partnered with Ipsos for its 2021 research report, âThe Streaming Generation,â which explained that âGeneration Alpha [is] the most influential digital generation yetâŚ. They have never known a world without digital devices at their fingertips, and for Generation Alpha (Gen A), these tech-first habits are now a defining aspect of their daily lives.â More than 2,000 U.S. parents and guardians of children 2-12 were interviewed for the study, which found that âdigital advertising to Gen A influences the purchasing decisions of their parentsâŚ. Their purchasing choices, for everything from toys to the family car, are heavily influenced by the content kids are watching and the ads they see.â The report explains that among the âmost popular requestsâ are toys, digital games, clothing, tech products and âin-game currenciesâ for Roblox and Fortnite.Determining the levels of âbrand loveâ by children and teens, such as the use of âKidfinityâ and âTeenfinityâ scoresââproprietary measures of brand awareness, popularity and loveââare regularly provided to advertisers. Other market researchers, such as Beano Studios, offer a âCOPPA-compliantâ âBeano Brain Omnibusâ website that, through âgames, quizzes, and bespoke questionsâ for children and teens, âallows bands to access answers to their burning questions.â These tools help marketers better identify, for example, the sitesâsuch as TikTokâwhere young people spend time. Among the other services Beano provides, which reflect many other market-research companiesâ capabilities, are âReal-time UX/UI and content testingâin the moment, digital experience exploration and evaluation of brands websites and apps with kids and teens in strawman, beta or live stages,â and âBeano at homeâobserving and speaking to kids in their own homes. Learning how and what content they watch.â Adtech and other data marketing applications: In order to conduct any âstealthâ advertising inquiry, the FTC should review the operations of contemporary âBig Dataâ-driven ad systems that can impact young people. For example, Disney has an extensive and cutting-edge programmatic apparatus called DRAX(Disney Real-Time Ad Exchange) that is delivering thousands of video-based campaigns. DRAX supports âDisney Select,â a "suite of ad tech solutions, providing access to an extensive library of first-party segments that span the Disney portfolio, including streaming, entertainment and sports propertiesâŚ. Continuously refined and enhanced based on the countless ways Disney connects with consumers daily. Millions of data inputs validated through data scienceâŚ. Advertisers can reach their intended audiences by tapping into Disneyâs proprietary Audience Graph, which unifies Disneyâs first party data and audience modeling capabilitiesâŚ.â As of March 2022, Disney Select contained more than 1,800 âaudience segments built from more than 100,000 audience attributes that fuel Disneyâs audience graph.â According to Disney Advertising, its âAudience Graphâ includes 100 million households, 160 million connected TV devices and 190 million device IDs, which enables modeling to target households and families. Children and teens are a core audience for Disney, and millions of their households receive its digital advertising. Many other youth-directed leading brands have developed extensive internal adtech applications designed to deliver ongoing and personalized campaigns. For example, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, McDonaldâs, and Mondelez have in-house capabilities and extensive partnerships that create targeted marketing to youth and others. The ways that âBig Dataâ analytics affect marketing, especially how insights can be used to target youth, should be reviewed. Marketers will say to the FTC that they are only targeting 18-year-olds and over, but an examination of their actual targets, and asking for child-related brand-safety data they collect, should provide the agency with a robust response to such claims.New methods to leverage a personâs informational details and then target them, especially without âcookies,â requires the FTC to address how this is being used to market to children and teens. This review should also be extended to âcontextualâ advertising, since that method has been transformed through the use of machine learning and other advanced tacticsâcalled âContextual 2.0.âTargeting youth of color: Black, Hispanic, Asian-American and other âmulticulturalâ youth, as the ad industry has termed it, are key targets for digital advertising. An array of research, techniques, and services is focused on these young people, whose behaviors online are closely monitored by advertisers. A recent case study to consider is the McDonaldâs U.S. advertising campaign designed to reverse its âdecline with multicultural youth.â The goal of its campaign involving musician Travis Scott was to âdrive penetration by bringing younger, multicultural customers to the brands⌠and drive immediate behavior too.â As a case study explains, âTo attract multicultural youth, a brand⌠must have cultural cachet. Traditional marketing doesnât work with them. They donât watch cable TV; they live online and on social media, and if you are not present there youâre out of sight, out of mind.âItâs extremely valuable to identify some of the elements involved in this case, which are emblematic of the integrated set of marketing and advertising practices that accompany so many campaigns aimed at young people. These included working with a celebrity/influencer who is able to âgalvanize youth and activate pop cultureâ; offering âcoveted contentâkeepsakes and experiences to fuel the starâs fanbase, driving participation and salesâ; employing digital strategies through a proprietary (and data-collecting) âapp to bring fans something extra and drive digital adoptionâ; and focusing on âaffordabilityââto ensure âyouth with smaller walletsâ would participate. To illustrate how expenditures for paid advertising are much less relevant with digital marketing, McDonaldâs explains that âBefore a single dollar had been spent on paid media, purely on the strength of a few social posts by McDonaldâs and Travis Scott, and reporting in the press, youth were turning up at restaurants across the country, asking for the Travis Scott meal.â This campaign was a significant financial success for McDonaldâs. Its partnership with this influencer was effective as well in terms of âcultural response: hundreds of thousands of social media mentions and posts, fan-art and memes, unboxing videos of the mealâŚ, fans selling food and stolen POS posters on eBayâŚ, the multi merch drops that sold out in seconds, the framed receipts.â Online ads targeted to Americaâs diverse communities of young people, who can also be a member of a group at risk (due to finances, health, and the like) have long required an FTC investigation. The commission should examine the data-privacy and marketing practices on these sites, including those that communicate via languages other than English.Video and Video Games: Each of these applications have developed an array of targeted advertising strategies to reach young people. Streaming video is now a part of the integrated surveillance-marketing system, creating a pivotal new place to reach young people, as well as generate data for further targeting. Children and teens are viewing video content on Smart TVs, other streaming devices, mobile phones, tablets as well as computers. Household data where young people reside, which is amplified through the use of a growing number of âidentityâ tools that permit cross-device tracking, enable an array of marketing practices to flourish. The commission should review the data-gathering, ad-formatting, and other business practices that have been identified for these âOTTâ services and how they impact children and teens. There are industry-approved ad-format guidelines for digital video and Connected TV. Digital video ads can use âdynamic overlays,â âshoppable and actionable video,â âvoice-integrated video ads,â âsequential CTV creative,â and âcreative extensions,â for example. Such ad formats and preferred practices are generally not vetted in terms of how they impact the interests of young people.Advertisers have strategically embedded themselves within the video game system, recognizing that itâs a key vantage point to surveil and entice young people. One leading quick-service restaurant chain that used video games to âreach the next generation of fast-food fansâ explained that âgaming has become the primary source of entertainment for the younger generation. Whether playing video games or watching others play games on social platforms, the gaming industry has become bigger than the sports and music industries combined. And lockdowns during the global pandemic accelerated the trend. Gaming is a vital part of youth culture.â Illustrating that marketers understand that traditional paid advertising strategies arenât the most effective to reach young people, the fast-food company decided to âapproach gaming less like an advertising channel and more like an earned social and PR platformâŚ. [V]ideo games are designed as social experiences.â As Insider Intelligence/eMarketer reported in June 2022, âthereâs an ad format for every brandâ in gaming today, including interstitial ads, rewarded ads, offerwalls, programmatic in-game ads, product placement, advergames, and âloot boxes.â There is also an âin-game advertising measurementâ framework, recently released for public comment by the IAB and the Media Ratings Council. This is another example where leading advertisers, including Google, Microsoft, PepsiCo and Publicis, are determining how âads that appear within gameplayâ operate. These guidelines will impact youth, as they will help determine the operations of such ad formats as âDynamic In-Game Advertising (DIGA)âAppear inside a 3D game environment, on virtual objects such as billboards, posters, etc. and combine the customization of web banners where ads rotate throughout the play sessionâ; and âHardcoded In-Game Ad Objects: Ads that have not been served by an ad server and can include custom 3D objects or static banners. These ads are planned and integrated into a video game during its design and development stage.â Leading advertising platforms such as Amazon sell as a package video ads reaching both streaming TV and gaming audiences. The role of gaming and streaming should be a major focus in October, as well as in any commission follow-up report.Influencers: What was once largely celebrity-based or word-of mouth style endorsements has evolved into a complex system including ânano-influencers (between 1,000 and 10,000 followers); micro-influencers (between 10,000 and 100,000); macro-influencers (between 100,000 and a million); and mega or celebrity influencers (1 million-plus followers). According to a recent report in the Journal of Advertising Research, â75 percent of marketers are now including social-media influencers in their marketing plans, with a worldwide market size of $2.3 billion in 2020.â Influencer marketing is also connected to social media marketing generally, where advertisers and others have long relied on a host of surveillance-related systems to âlisten,â analyze and respond to peopleâs social online communications.Today, a generation of âcontent creatorsâ (aka influencers) is lured into becoming part of the integrated digital sales force that sells to young people and others. From âunboxing videosâ and âvirtual product placementâ in popular content, to âkidfluencersâ like Ryanâs World and âbrand ambassadorsâ lurking in video games, to favorite TikTok creators pushing fast-food, this form of digital âpayolaâ is endemic online.Take Ryanâs World. Leveraging âmore than one billion viewsâ on YouTube, as well as a Nickelodeon show, has âcatapulted him... to a global multi-category force,â notes his production and licensing firm. The deals include a âpreschool product line in multiple categories, âbest in class partnerships, and a âTag with Ryanâ app that garnered 16 million downloads. Brands seeking help selling products, says Ryanâs media agency, âcan connect with its kid fanbase of millions that leverages our world-class portfolio of kid-star partners to authentically and seamlessly connect your brand with Generation Alpha across YouTube, social media, mobile games, and OTT channelsâeverywhere kids tune in!... a Generation Alpha focused agency that delivers more than 8 BILLION views and 100 MILLION unique viewers every month!â (its emphasis). Also available is a âcustom content and integrationsâ feature that can âcreate unique brand experiences with top-tier kid stars.â Ryanâs success is not unique, as more and more marketers create platforms and content, as well as merge companies, to deliver ads and marketing to children and teens. An array of influencer marketing platforms that offer âone-stopâ shopping for brands to employ influencers, including through the use of programmatic marketing-like data practices (to hire people to place endorsements, for example) is a core feature of the influencer economy. There are also software programs so brands and marketers can automate their social influencer operations, as well as social media âdashboardsâ that help track and analyze social online conversations, brand mentions and other communications. The impact of influencers is being measured through a variety of services, including neuromarketing. Influencers are playing a key role in âsocial commerce,â where they promote the real-time sales of products and services on âshoppable media.â U.S. social commerce sales are predicted to grow to almost $80 billion in 2025 from its 2022 estimated total of $45.74 billion. Google, Meta, TikTok, Amazon/Twitch and Snapchat all have significant influencer marketing operations. As Meta/Facebook recently documented, there is also a growing role for âvirtualâ influencers that are unleashed to promote products and services. While there may be claims that many promotions and endorsements should be classified as âuser generated contentâ (UGC), we believe the commission will find that the myriad influencer marketing techniques often play a role spurring such product promotion.The âMetaverseâ: The same forces of digital marketing that have shaped todayâs online experience for young people are already at work organizing the structure of the âmetaverse.â There are virtual brand placements, advertisements, and industry initiatives on ad formats and marketing experiences. Building on work done for gaming and esports, this rapidly emerging marketing environment poses additional threats to young people and requires timely commission intervention.Global Standards: Young people in the U.S. have fewer protections than they do in other countries and regions, including the European Union and the United Kingdom. In the EU, for example, protections are required for young people until they are 18 years of age. The impact of the GDPR, the UKâs Design Code, the forthcoming Digital Services Act (and even some self-regulatory EU initiatives by companies such as Google) should be assessed. In what ways do U.S.-based platforms and companies provider higher or more thorough safeguards for children when they are required to do so outside of this country? The FTC has a unique role to ensure that U.S. companies operating online are in the forefrontânot in the rearâof protecting the privacy and interests of children.The October Workshop: Our review of the youth marketing landscape is just a partial snapshot of the marketplace. We have not discussed âappsâ and mobile devices, which pose many concerns, including those related to location, for example. But CDD hopes this comment will help inform the commission about the operations of contemporary marketing and its relationship to young people. We call on the FTC to ensure that this October, we are presented with an informed and candid discussion of the nature and impact of todayâs marketing system on Americaâs youth.ftcyouthmarketing071822.pdfJeff Chester -
Considering Privacy Legislation in the context of contemporary digital data marketing practices Last week, the leading global advertisers, online platforms and data marketers gathered for the most important awards given by the ad industryâthe âCannes Lions.â Reviewing the winners and the âshortlistâ of runners-upâcompeting in categories such as âCreative Data,â âSocial and Influencer,â âBrand Experience & Activation,â âCreative Commerceâ and âMobileââis essential to learn where the data-driven marketing businessâand ultimately much of our digital experiencesâis headed. An analysis of the entries reveals a growing role for machine learning and artificial intelligence in the creation of online marketing, along with geolocation tracking, immersive content and other âengagementâ technologies. One takeaway, not surprisingly, is that the online ad industry continues to perfect techniques to secure our interest in its content so it can to gather more data from us.A U.S.-based company that also generated news during Cannes was The Trade Desk, a relatively unknown data marketing service that is playing a major role assisting advertisers and content providers to overcome any new privacy challenges posed by emerging or future legislation. The Trade Desk announced last week a further integration of its data and ad-targeting service with Amazonâs cloud AWS division, as well as a key role assisting grocer Albertsons new digital ad division. The Trade Desk has brokered a series of alliances and partnerships with Walmart, the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Gannett, NBC Universal, and Disneyâto name only a few.There are several reasons these marketers and content publishing companies are aligning themselves with The Trade Desk. One of the most important is the companyâs leadership in developing a method to collect and monetize a personâs identity for ongoing online marketing. âUnified ID 2.0â is touted to be a privacy-focused method that enables surveillance and effective ad targeting. The marketing industry refers to these identity approaches as âcurrenciesâ that enable the buying and selling of individuals for advertising. There are now dozens of identity âgraphâ or âidentity spineâ services, in addition to UDID, which reflect far-reaching partnerships among data brokers, publishers, adtech specialists, advertisers and marketing agencies. Many of these approaches are interoperable, such as the one involving Acxiom spin-off LiveRamp and The Trade Desk. A key goal, when you listen to what these identity brokers say, is that they would like to establish a universal identifier for each of us, to directly capture our attention, reap our data, and monetize our behavior. For the last several years, as a result of the enactment of the GDPR in the EU, the passage of privacy legislation in California, and the potential of federal privacy legislation, Google, Apple, Firefox and others have made changes or announced plans related to their online data practices. So-called âthird party cookies,â which have long enabled commercial surveillance, are being abandonedâespecially since their role has repeatedly raised concerns from data-protection regulators. Taking their place are what the surveillance marketing business believes are privacy-regulation-proof strategies. There are basically two major, but related, efforts that have been underwayâhere in the U.S. and globally.The first tactic is for a platform or online publisher to secure the use of our information through an affirmative consent processâcalled a âfirst-partyâ data relationship in the industry. The reasoning goes is that an individual wants an ongoing interaction with the siteâfor news, videos, groceries, drugs and other services, etc. Under this rationale, we are said to understand and approve how platforms and publishers will use our information as part of the value exchange. First-party data is becoming the most valuable asset in the global digital marketing business, enabling ongoing collection, generating insights, and helping maintain the surveillance model. It is considered to have few privacy problems. All the major platforms that raise so many troubling issuesâincluding Google, Amazon, Meta/Facebookâoperate through extensive first-party data relationships. Itâs informative to see how the lead digital marketing trade groupâthe Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)âexplains it: â âfirst party data is your dataâŚpresents the least privacy concerns because you have full control over its collection, ownership and use.âThe second tactic is a variation on the first, but also relies on various forms of identity-resolution strategies. Itâs a response in part to the challenges posed by the dominance of the âwalled gardenâ digital behemoths (Google, etc.) as well the need to overcome the impact of privacy regulation. These identity services are the replacement for cookies. Some form of first-party data is captured (and streaming video services are seen as a gold mine here to secure consent), along with additional information using machine learning to crunch data from public sources and other âsignals.â Multimillion member panels of consumers who provide ongoing feedback to marketers, including information about their online behaviors, also help better determine how to effectively fashion the digital targeting elements. The Trade Desk-led UDID is one such identity framework. Another is TransUnionâs âFabrick,â which âprovides marketers with a sustainable, privacy-first foundation for all their data management, marketing and measurement needs.â Such rhetoric is typical of how the adtech/data broker/digital marketing sectors are trying to reframe how they conduct surveillance.Another related development, as part of the restructuring of the commercial surveillance economy, is the role of âdata clean rooms.â Clean rooms enable data to be processed under specific rules set up by a marketer. As Advertising Agerecently explained, clean rooms enable first-party and other marketers to provide âaccess to their troves of data.â For Comcastâs NBCU division and Disney, this treasure chest of information comes from âset-top boxes, streaming platforms, theme parks and movie studios.â Various privacy rules are supposed to be applied; in some cases where they have consent, two or more parties will exchange their first-party data. In other cases, where they may not have such open permission, they will be able to âcreate really interesting ad products; whether it's a certain audience slice, or audience taxonomy, or different types of ad unitsâŚ.â As an NBCU executive explained about its clean room activity, âwe match the data, we build custom audiencesâŚwe plan, activate and we measure. The clean room is now the safe neutral sandbox where all the parties can feel good sharing first party data without concerns of data leakage.âWe currently have at least one major privacy bill in Congress that includes important protections for civil rights and restricts data targeting of children and teens, among other key provisions. Itâs also important when examining these proposals to see how effective they will be in dealing with the surveillance marketing industryâs current tactics. If they donât effectively curtail what is continuous and profound surveillance and manipulation by the major digital marketers, and also fail to rein in the power of the most dominant platforms, will such a federal privacy promise really deliver? We owe it to the public to determine whether such bills will really âclean upâ the surveillance system at the core of our online lives.
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Groups say FIFA: Ultimate Team preys on childrenâs vulnerability with loot boxes, âfunny money" Contact:David Monahan, Fairplay david@fairplayforkids.orgJeff Chester, CDD jeff@democraticmedia.org; 202-494-7100Advocates call on FTC to investigate manipulative design abuses in popular FIFA gameGroups say FIFA: Ultimate Team preys on childrenâs vulnerability with loot boxes, âfunny moneyâBOSTON and WASHINGTON, DC â Thursday, June 2, 2022 â Today, advocacy groups Fairplay and Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) led a coalition of 15 advocacy groups in calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate video game company Electronic Arts (EA) for unfairly exploiting young users in EAâs massively popular game, FIFA: Ultimate Team. In a letter sent to the FTC, the advocates described how the use of loot boxes and virtual currency in FIFA: Ultimate Team exploits the many children who play the game, especially given their undeveloped financial literacy skills and poor understanding of the odds of receiving the most desirable loot box items.Citing the Norwegian Consumer Councilâs recent report, Insert Coin: How the Gaming Industry Exploits Consumers Using Lootboxes, the advocatesâ letter details how FIFA: Ultimate Team encourages gamers to engage in a constant stream of microtransactions as they play the game. Users are able to buy FIFA points, a virtual in-game currency, which can then be used to purchase loot boxes called FIFA packs containing mystery team kits; badges; and player cards for soccer players who can be added to a gamerâs team. In their letter, the advocates noted the gameâs use of manipulative design abuses such as âlightning roundâ sales of premium packs to promote the purchase of FIFA packs, which children are particularly vulnerable to. The advocates also cite the use of virtual currency in the game, which obscures the actual cost of FIFA packs to adult users, let alone children. Additionally, the actual probability of unlocking the best loot box prizes in FIFA: Ultimate Team is practically inscrutable to anyone who is not an expert in statistics, according to the advocates and the NCC report. In order to unlock a specific desirable player in the game, users would have to pay around $14,000 or spend three years continuously playing the game. âBy relentlessly marketing pay-to-win loot boxes, EA is exploiting childrenâs desire to compete with their friends, despite the fact that most adults, let alone kids, could not determine their odds of receiving a highly coveted card or what cards cost in real money. The FTC must use its power to investigate these design abuses and determine just how many kids and teens are being fleeced by EA.â Josh Golin, Executive Director, FairplayâLootboxes, virtual currencies, and other gaming features are often designed deceptively, aiming to exploit playersâ known vulnerabilities. Due to their unique developmental needs, children and teens are particularly harmed. Their time and attention is stolen from them, they're financially exploited, and are purposely socialized to adopt gambling-like behaviors. Online gaming is a key online space where children and teens gather in millions, and regulators must act to protect them from these harmful practices.â Katharina Kopp, Deputy Director, Center for Digital DemocracyâAs illustrated in our report, FIFA: Ultimate Team uses aggressive in-game marketing and exploits gamersâ cognitive biases - adults and children alike - to manipulate them into spending large sums of money. Children especially are vulnerable to EAâs distortion of real-world value of its loot boxes and the complex, misleading probabilities given to describe the odds of receiving top prizes. We join our US partners in urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate these troubling practices.â Finn LĂźtzow-Holm Myrstad, Digital Policy Director, Norwegian Consumer Council"The greed of these video game companies is a key reason why we're seeing a new epidemic of child gambling in our families. Thanks to this report, the FTC has more than enough facts to take decisive action to protect our kids from these predatory business practices." Les Bernal, National Director of Stop Predatory Gambling and the Campaign for Gambling-Free KidsâExploiting consumers, especially children, by manipulating them into buying loot boxes that, in reality, rarely contain the coveted items they are seeking, is a deceptive marketing practice that causes real harm and needs to stop. TINA.org strongly urges the FTC to take action.â Laura Smith, Legal Director at TINA.orgAdvocacy groups signing today's FTC complaint include Fairplay; the Center for Digital Democracy; Campaign for Accountability; Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development; Common Sense Media; Consumer Federation of America; Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC); Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling, Inc.; Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health; National Council on Problem Gambling; Parent Coalition for Student Privacy; Public Citizen; Stop Predatory Gambling and the Campaign for Gambling-Free Kids; TINA.org (Truth in Advertising, Inc.); U.S. PIRG### lootboxletter_pr.pdf, lootboxletterfull.pdf
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Press Release
Press Statement regarding FTC Policy Statement on Education Technology and the Childrenâs Online Privacy Protection Act
Press Statement regarding todayâs FTC Policy Statement on Education Technology and the Childrenâs Online Privacy Protection ActJeff Chester, Executive Director, Center for Digital Democracy:Today, the Federal Trade Commission adopts a long overdue policy designed to protect childrenâs privacy. By shielding school children from the pervasive forces of commercial surveillance, which gathers their data for ads and marketing, the FTC is expressly using a critical safeguard from the bipartisan Childrenâs Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Fairplay, Center for Digital Democracy, and a coalition of privacy, childrenâs health, civil and consumer rights groups had previously called on the commission to enact policies that make this very Edtech safeguard possible.  We look forward to working with the FTC to ensure that parents can be confident that their childâs online privacy and security is protected inâor out of-the classroom. However, the Commission must also ensure that adolescents receive protections from what is now an omniscient and manipulative data-driven complex that profoundly threatens their privacy and well-being. -
Press Release
Diverse Coalition of Advocates Urges Congress to Pass Legislation to Protect Kids and Teens Online
60 leading advocacy organizations say unregulated Big Tech business model is âfundamentally at odds with childrenâs wellbeingâContact:David Monahan, Fairplay david@fairplayforkids.org(link sends e-mail)Jeff Chester, Center for Digital Democracy, jeff@democraticmedia.org(link sends e-mail), 202-494-7100Diverse coalition of advocates urges Congress to pass legislation to protect kids and teens online60 leading advocacy organizations say unregulated Big Tech business model is âfundamentally at odds with childrenâs wellbeingâBOSTON, MA and WASHINGTON, DC - March 22, 2022 â Congressional leaders in the House and Senate were urged today to enact much needed protections for children and teens online. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a broad coalition of health, safety, privacy and education groups said it was time to ensure that Big Tech can no longer undermine the wellbeing of Americaâs youth. The letter reiterated President Bidenâs State of the Union address call for increased online protections for young people.In their letter, the advocates outlined how the prevailing business model of Big Tech creates a number of serious risks facing young people on the internet today, including mental health struggles, loss of privacy, manipulation, predation, and cyberbullying. The advocates underscored the dangers posed by rampant data collection on popular platforms, including algorithmic discrimination and targeting children at particularly vulnerable moments.  The reforms called for by the advocates include:Protections for children and teens wherever they are online, not just on âchild-directedâ sites;Privacy protections to all minors;A ban on targeted advertising to young people;Prohibition of algorithmic discrimination of children and teens;Establishment of a duty of care that requires digital service providers to make the best interests of children a primary design consideration and prevent and mitigate harms to minors;Requiring platforms to turn on the most protective settings for minors by default;Greater resources for enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission.United by the desire to see Big Techâs harmful business model regulated, the advocatesâ letter represents a landmark moment for the movement to increase privacy protections for children and teenagers online, especially due to the wide-ranging fields and focus areas represented by signatories. Among the 60 signatories to the advocatesâ letter are: Fairplay, Center for Digital Democracy, Accountable Tech, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Psychological Association, Center for Humane Technology, Common Sense, Darkness to Light, ECPAT-USA, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), National Alliance to Advance Adolescent Health, National Center on Sexual Exploitation, National Eating Disorders Association, Network for Public Education, ParentsTogether, Public Citizen, Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, and Exposure Labs, creators of The Social Dilemma.Signatories on the need for legislation to protect young people online:âCongress last passed legislation to protect children online 24 years ago â nearly a decade before the most popular social media platforms even existed. Big Tech's unregulated business model has led to a race to the bottom to collect data and maximize profits, no matter the harm to young people. We agree with the president that the time is now to update COPPA, expand privacy protections to teens, and put an end to the design abuses that manipulate young people into spending too much time online and expose them to harmful content.â â Josh Golin, Executive Director, Fairplay.âItâs long past time for Congress to put a check on Big Techâs pervasive manipulation of young peopleâs attention and exploitation of their personal data. We applaud President Bidenâs call to ban surveillance advertising targeting young people and are heartened by the momentum to rein in Big Tech and establish critical safeguards for minors engaging with their products.â â Nicole Gill, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Accountable Tech.âDigital technology plays an outsized role in the lives of todayâs children and adolescents, exacerbated by the dramatic changes to daily life experienced during the pandemic. Pediatricians see the impact of these platforms on our patients and recognize the growing alarm about the role of digital platforms, in particular social media, in contributing to the youth mental health crisis. It has become clear that, from infancy through the teen years, childrenâs well-being is an afterthought in developing digital technologies. Strengthening privacy, design, and safety protections for children and adolescents online is one of many needed steps to create healthier environments that are more supportive of their mental health and well-being.ââ Moira Szilagyi, MD, PhD, FAAP, President, American Academy of Pediatrics.âChildren and teens are at the epicenter of a pervasive data-driven marketing system that takes advantage of their inherent developmental vulnerabilities. We agree with President Biden: now is the time for Congress to act and enact safeguards that protect children and teens. Itâs also long overdue for Congress to enact comprehensive legislation that protects parents and other adults from unfair, manipulative, discriminatory and privacy invasive commercial surveillance practices.â â Katharina Kopp, Ph.D. Policy Director, Center for Digital Democracy."President Biden's powerful State of the Union plea to Congress to hold social media platforms accountable for the ânational experimentâ they're conducting on our kids and teens could not be more important. It is clear that young people are being harmed by these platforms that continue to prioritize profits over the wellbeing of its youngest users. Children and teens' mental health is at stake. Congress and the Administration must act now to pass legislation to protect childrenâs and teens' privacy and well-being online." â Jim Steyer, Founder and CEO, Common Sense.âOnline protections for children are woefully outdated and it's clear tech companies are more interested in profiting off of vulnerable children than taking steps to prevent them from getting hurt on their platforms. American kids are facing a mental health crisis partly fueled by social media and parents are unable to go it alone against these billion dollar companies. We need Congress to update COPPA, end predatory data collection on children, and regulate design practices that are contributing to social media addiction, mental health disorders, and even death.ââ Justin Ruben, Co-Founder and Co-Director, ParentsTogether."A business model built on extracting our attention at the cost of our well being is bad for everyone, but especially bad for children. No one knows this better than young people themselves, many of whom write to us daily about the ways in which Big Social is degrading their mental health. Left unregulated, Big Social will put profits over people every time. It's time to put our kids first. We urge Congress to act swiftly and enact reforms like strengthening privacy, banning surveillance advertising, and ending algorithmic discrimination for kids so we can begin to build a digital world that supports, rather than demotes child wellbeing." â Julia Hoppock, Partnerships Director, The Social Dilemma, Exposure Labs.# # #press_release_letter_to_congress_updated_embargo_to_3_22.pdf, letter_to_congress_re_children_online_3_22_22.pdf -
Blog
FTC Should tell Microsoft that itâs âGame Overâ with its plans to buy Activision Blizzard
Deal reflects Big Tech move to grab more data for omnipresent tracking & targeting Microsoft is rapidly expanding its surveillance advertising complexâfirst acquiring AT&Tâs powerful Xandr targeting system last December, and adding a few weeks later the online gaming and eSports giant Activision Blizzard. The combination of Microsoft, AT&T and Activision assets raises a set of concerns regarding competition in the gaming and eSports marketplaces; privacy/surveillance protections, given the pervasive data gathering on users; and consumer protection, such as the methods that Microsoft and Activision (and other gaming services) implement to monetize players (including youth) through in-stream advertising and other marketing efforts. It also has implications for the ways we protect privacy in streaming media as well as in the evolving âmetaverse.âThe FTC must review this proposed deal, with the agencyâs privacy and consumer-protection roles at the fore. This proposed Microsoft/Activision combination is emblematic of the ongoing transformation of how Big Tech companies track and target people across all their devices and applications. In order to continue its surveillance-advertising-based model, the online industry is undergoing a massive shift in tactics. It is pivoting to whatâs called a âFirst-Partyâ data use strategy, claiming that it is obtaining our permission to continue to follow us online and deliver personalized ads and marketing. Getting our consent is the Big Tech plan to undermine any privacy legislation in the U.S. and elsewhere. For example, if this merger goes through, users of Activision games will likely be asked to consent to data collection and tracking on all of Microsoftâs servicesâsuch as Bing and LinkedIn. Given that Microsoft and Activision have already baked into its ad services relationships with Google and Meta/Facebook, this acquisition also illustrates the numerous deals that are aligned in all of these digital giants. Owning Xandr will bring a host of additional surveillance advertising resources to Microsoftâs already robust consumer-profiling and marketing infrastructure (including information contributed by AT&Tâs own data practices). As explained in the data marketing newsletter AdExchanger, the Xandr and Activision acquisitions, if approved, will enable the leveraging of Microsoftâs already âstrong first-party data set and monetize inventory across its wide portfolio of platforms, including its video game business, LinkedIn, Bing, Edge, Office 365, Skype and more.â Microsoft was already working with AT&Tâs Xandr surveillance ad targeting apparatus, including for its gaming division. For example Xandr explains that its enables marketers to âAccess real users in immersive and engaging environmentsâ via its current ability to target people thru the Microsoft Advertising Exchange.Microsoftâs data targeting currently involves its âMicrosoft Search Network,â which âsees 14.6 billion monthly searches globally across nearly 700 million users. Its Audience Network engages in an array of targeting tactics, including via leveraging a personâs identity, location, use of LinkedIn or other sites and a variety of âcustomâ approaches. Advertisers are able to âtarget audiencesâŚacross more than 1 billion Window devices.â Microsoft also offers its âDynamics 365 Customer Insightsâ data platform to help marketers package their own data to use on its ad platform. Activision engages in an array of ad practices that raise concerns about unfairness and privacy, from in-stream ads to ârewarded videosâ to product placement. As it explains, âActivision Blizzard Media connects brands and players with fan-first integrated advertising experiences across gaming and esportsâŚ. We create user-initiated in-game advertising experiences that allow brands to reward 245M+ players at key moments of gameplay to drive reach, frequency and engagementâŚ. In-game User-initiated video ads allow brands to reward players at key moments of gameplay.âIn this context, the FTC needs to review all the third-party tracking YouTube-related companies serving ads to Activision Blizzard Esports, including Google Campaign Manager 360, Flashtalking, Adform, Innovid and Extreme Reach. For example, Flashtalking explains that it helps gaming services âdrive customer lifetime valueâŚ, understand who bought your games, how they interact with your brand, and which touch points drove engagement.â Innovid helps marketers create âaccurate, persistent identity across devices.â For measurement, which is also a privacy issue long overlooked by previous FTC commissions, we have Activision partners that include Oracleâs MOAT, Kantor, Google Campaign Manager, and others. Everything from potato chips, candy and toilet paper is pushed via its gaming services. Activision uses neuromarketing and other research-related online ad industry tactics to figure out how best to deliver marketing to its users (including teens)âall of which have privacy and consumer protection implications. For decades, the Federal Trade Commission has approved Big Tech mergers without examining their impact on consumer protection and privacy (and also on competitionâthink of all the Google and Facebook takeovers the commission has okayed). This is unacceptable. Gaming is a hugely important market, with a set of data-gathering tactics that impact both consumers and competition. We expect this FTC to do much better than what we have witnessed for the past several decades.Â