Privacy Questions Brands and Advertisers Need to Ask Adtech Partners
Learn the essential steps and strategies for safeguarding consumer privacy in the Adtech landscape.
Ken Harlan, founder and CEO of MobileFuse, writes about why brands and advertisers must navigate complex data compliance effectively and ethically.
A continuous wave of news showcases how top brands struggle to meet evolving consumer privacy laws. On October 24, 2023, we saw the New York State Attorney General (AG), alongside a bipartisan coalition of 32 AGs, filed a federal lawsuit against the Meta for designing and deploying harmful features to addict children and teenagers, as well as collecting personal data of children under the age of 13 without previously informing and obtaining parental consent. And just a few weeks ahead of that was a news cycle around X Corp. failing to manage data privacy requirements.
These recent, but not limited, examples represent a glaring reality: brands and advertisers need to be reassured that the data and platforms they use uphold the strictest privacy and security regulations. Our industry is writing a critical chapter where consumer security and defense are top-of-mind. Entities that fail to meet evolving requirements will be fined heavily or crumble and go extinct. For example, Meta was fined by the EU in May 2023 to pay $1.3 billion),
These examples show what can happen to large platforms – but the onus doesn’t fall solely on the shoulders of those companies. Agencies, brands, and marketers are responsible for ensuring their campaigns use strategies and technologies that align with regulations. With the landscape changing constantly, here’s a look at the top things brands and marketers need to ask their platform partners.
Let’s Start With the Right Questions
It’s more important than ever for platform partners to ‘show the receipts’ and be able to make clear the actionable steps they’ve taken to ensure data compliance. Right off the bat, brands and advertisers should ask if their vendor partners collect, use, and share personal data – and if so, what safeguards are in place to protect that data from unauthorized access. Additionally, determine if they give consumers control over their data, including the ability to opt out of data collection and targeting.
Another nuanced approach to identifying data and privacy compliance is found in how the company prioritizes staff. In reality, keeping up-to-date with all regulation changes and managing the rollout of new procedures is a full-time job.
If we look at the recent X Corp. news, some compliance issues came about simply because layoffs and other “cost-cutting” measures effectively eliminated that job function at the company. The key takeaway is that companies in our space must dedicate proper resources to maintain compliance. If your partners willingly choose not to monitor this area and bolster their workforce’s ability to maintain compliance, it’s worth asking them why.
Six critical questions that brands must ask
The responses to these questions are critical, and will note if that’s a vendor partner you should continue working with. We recommend going a step further and asking:
- How do you comply with the (General Data Protection Regulation) GDPR’s consent requirements?
- How do you help marketers comply with the (Central Consumer Protection Authority) CCPA’s right to know, right to delete, and right to opt-out requests?
- How do you monitor and track other states’ specific data privacy regulations?
- What steps do you take to minimize the collection of sensitive data?
- How do you protect personal data from being transferred to countries with inadequate privacy laws?
- What procedures are in place to detect and respond to data breaches?
By asking questions like these, brands and advertisers will better understand what their partners are committed to. The responses represent how they’re navigating constant regulation changes, and it will reveal the level of commitment they have to protecting consumer’s privacy.
See More: Why Dirty Data is Leading to Advertising Waste and How to Stop It
Industry Consortiums and Protocols Stack Up
Another key ‘metric’ for understanding your Adtech partners’ commitment to data compliance is around industry privacy organizations. Several entities and protocols are designed to help the advertising industry quickly adapt to changing regulatory expectations around the globe. For example, the Global Privacy Platform (GPP) is a protocol developed by IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) Tech Lab that streamlines the transmission of privacy, consent, and consumer choice signals from sites and apps to ad tech providers.
Additionally, IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) is a standardized means for online advertisers and marketers to communicate the state of user consent between first parties and third parties and the consent management system in use on the first party’s website. Essentially, publishers can select vendors from a list enrolled in the Framework. The user’s consent state is stored in a first-party cookie in the user’s browser and shared down the advertisement chain of information in the IAB Framework.
While many organizations focus on data compliance regulations, it’s safe to say that if your current partners aren’t part of GPP or TCF, they are already falling behind.
Always Think about Diversification
The Ad platforms (including Google, Meta, and Amazon) are forecasted to own 65% of net digital ad revenue in the United States— it might be more impactful to diversify where ad spend goes, at least until these recurring data compliance issues are addressed.
We’re not saying the largest platforms won’t deliver against specific campaign goals, but it’s worth considering where your budgets go and if your partners hold a strong compliance track record that aligns with your own. Another thing to consider is regulation bodies mainly focus on larger companies; therefore, the ads running on them are more heavily scrutinized. It’s also common and well-known that large platforms struggle to make quick adjustments when they have issues.
Regardless of the constantly changing regulations, brands and advertisers must ensure their partners are committed to industry standards and protocols and are well-equipped to monitor and incorporate all updates. By asking the right questions and being willing to diversify where ad spend goes, brands and advertisers will be positioned to meet campaign goals while working with partners committed to protecting consumer privacy.
What best practices have you followed to safeguard consumer privacy and ensure data compliance in your advertising campaigns? Let us know on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
Image Source: Shutterstock
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