Ad transparency tools are ‘major disappointment’ ahead of election, new study shows

Heading
into
the
2024
election
in
the
U.S.
and
major
political
contests
around
the
world,
internet
companies
are
unprepared
for
the
onslaught
of
misinformation
that’s
coming.

That’s
according
to
research
out
Tuesday
from
Mozilla
and
CheckFirst,
which
concludes
that
leading
tech
platforms
are
lagging
in
their
ad
transparency
tools.
The
study,
conducted
between
December
and
January,
tested


Alphabet’s
Google
Search
and
YouTube,


Apple’s
App
Store
and


Microsoft’s
Bing
and
LinkedIn,
as
well
as
services
from


Meta,


Pinterest,


Snap,
TikTok,
X
and
others.

None
of
the
results
were
great,
and
some
were “a
major
disappointment,”
according
to
the
researchers.

The
ad
transparency
tools
were
mandated
by
the
European
Union’s
Digital
Services
Act,
which
required
that
large
tech
platforms
maintain
ad
libraries
and
other
tools,
such
as
application
programming
interfaces
(APIs),
to
be
used
by
researchers
and
the
public.
The
DSA’s
deadline
was
Jan.
1.

People
should
be
able
to
use
the
tools
to
search
for
information
about
ads
they
see
or
specific
companies’
ad
campaigns,
including
ad
content,
target
audience,
the
ad’s
reach
and
the
call
to
action.

 “This
is
now
no
longer
something
that’s
voluntary,”
Claire
Pershan,
EU
advocacy
lead
at
Mozilla,
told
CNBC. “It’s
something
these
companies
have
to
do.”

No
platforms
passed
the
test
with
the “ready
for
action”
designation.
Instead,
results
ranged
from
lacking
vital
data
and
functionality,
to “still
has
big
gaps”
in
data
and
functionality.
Some
had
the “bare
minimum,”
according
to
the
study.

It’s
troubling
news
as
the
major
platforms
prepare
for
a
huge
year
of
elections
that
affect
upward
of
4
billion
people
in
more
than
40
countries.

“It
is
important
right
now
for
the
platforms
to
really
collaborate,
and
important
for
us
to
push
right
now,
because
of
the
election
year,”
Amaury
Lesplingart,
co-founder
and
technology
chief
of
CheckFirst,
told
CNBC
in
an
interview.

The
rise
of
artificial
intelligence
and
AI-generated
content
has
led
to
serious
election-related
misinformation
concerns,
with
the
number
of
generated
deepfakes
increasing
900%
year
over
year,
according
to
data
from
machine
learning
firm
Clarity.
Election-related
misinformation
has
been
a
major
problem
dating
back
to
the
2016
presidential
campaign,
when
Russian
actors sought
to
deploy cheap
and
easy
ways
to
spread
inaccurate
content
across
social
platforms.

Lawmakers
are
currently
even
more
concerned
with
the
rapid
rise
of
AI.

“There
is
reason
for
serious
concern
about
how
AI
could
be
used
to
mislead
voters
in
campaigns,”
Josh
Becker,
a
Democratic
state
senator
in
California,
told
CNBC

in
a
February
interview.

The
new
research
determined
that
the
tools
offered
by
X
were
a “major
disappointment,”
as
the
company
offered
only
a
CSV
file
instead
of
a
web
interface,
making
it
hard
to
search
for
ads.
Lesplingart
told
CNBC
that
users
had
to
know
the
advertiser
name,
targeted
country
and
date
of
the
advertisement
in
order
to
export
to
an
ad
file.

“We
are
perhaps
most
disappointed
to
see
X
(formerly
Twitter)
make
such
a
minimal
effort,
considering
that
it
remains
a
central
space
for
civic
discourse,”
the
researchers
wrote. “This
may
be
why
the
European
Commission
has
included
X’s
ad
repository
in
its
formal
proceedings
against
the
platform
under
the
DSA.”

Bing,
Snapchat,
Alibaba’s
AliExpress
and
Zalando
also
received
the
lowest
marks.
Alphabet,
Pinterest
and


Booking.com
received
the
second-lowest
designations.
Apple’s
App
Store,
LinkedIn,
Meta
and
TikTok
received
higher
marks,
though
they
were
graded
as
still
having “big
gaps”
in
data
and
functionality.

“Our
main
takeaway
is
that
even
the
best
approaches
don’t
meet
our
baseline,”
the
researchers
wrote.

In
regards
to
Alphabet’s
transparency
tools
for
Google
Search
and
YouTube,
the
researchers
said “it’s
been
six
years
and
we
still
can’t
search
by
keyword.”
They
reported
accuracy
issues
and
missing
data
on
Pinterest
and
TikTok.
On
Bing’s
tools,
users
can’t
search
words
with
special
characters,
they
found.

For
Apple’s
App
Store
tools,
users
and
researchers
can’t
see
ad
campaigns
broken
down
by
targeted
country,
which
is
an
important
feature
for
tracking
election-related
disinformation,
according
to
the
study.

“The
effectiveness
of
these
tools
depends
on
their
usefulness
for
researchers
in
practice,”
the
researchers
wrote.
They
added, “But
we’d
also
like
to
consider
the
glass
half
full,
and
look
forward
to
further
improvements.”