Schakowsky, Eshoo, Wyden, Booker Introduce Bill to Ban Surveillance Advertising
Full text of Bill (PDF) | Summary of Bill (PDF)
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) and Anna G. Eshoo (CA-16) and U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act, legislation that prohibits advertising networks and facilitators from using personal data to target advertisements. The bill also prohibits advertisers from targeting ads based on protected class information such as race, gender, and religion, and personal data purchased from data brokers. The bill allows targeting based on broad location connected to a recognizable place, such as a municipality, and explicitly allows contextual advertising, which is advertising based on the content a user is engaging with.
“For far too long, online platforms have used surveillance advertising to capitalize on consumers’ private information. This exploitative online business model weaponizes Americans’ data by, for example, targeting consumers recovering from eating disorders with diet ads or retraumatizing those suffering from a pregnancy loss. Sensitive information consumers never chose to disclose – like their behavior, medical history, or sexual orientation – has been put up for auction, literally. The Banning Surveillance Advertising Act will help safeguard consumers online by removing the financial incentive for companies to exploit consumers' personal information. I am proud to join Representative Eshoo, Senator Booker, and Senator Wyden to stop this poisonous and unscrupulous practice,” said Representative Jan Schakowsky. “I remain committed to passing a bipartisan, comprehensive consumer data privacy law, and I believe a ban on surveillance ads should be a part of any such piece of legislation. I look forward to continued discussion with Energy and Commerce members on both sides of the aisle in order to achieve this outcome.”
“The ‘surveillance advertising' business model is premised on the unseemly collection and hoarding of personal data to enable ad targeting. This pernicious practice allows online platforms to chase user engagement and increase their revenue at the expense of our safety and security. It is at the root of disinformation, discrimination, voter suppression, privacy abuses, and so many other harms. The surveillance advertising business model is broken," said Representative Anna Eshoo. “I'm proud to partner with Representative Schakowsky and Senators Wyden and Booker on legislation to ban this toxic business model that causes irreparable harm to consumers, businesses, and our democracy.”
“The first place to start in holding companies accountable is to attack the business model so many of the big tech companies depend on. If you take away the incentive to hoover up users’ personal data, you make it much harder to target them both with objectionable content and take a sledgehammer to the incentive to design platforms in a way that can be harmful – especially for kids and teens. That’s exactly what this legislation does,” said Senator Ron Wyden.
“Surveillance advertising is an exploitative and invasive practice that undermines Americans’ privacy,” said Senator Cory Booker. “We should not have to choose between using the internet and sacrificing our most personal and sensitive data. This legislation will protect our privacy, hold companies accountable for exploiting consumers, and make the internet safer for all users.”
The Banning Surveillance Advertising Act is supported by leading public interest organizations, academics, and companies with privacy-preserving business models.
“Identifying, tracking, discriminating, sorting, targeting, delivering harmful and hateful content, and manipulating online users lies at the heart of all that is toxic about today’s digital world. Surveillance advertising drives discrimination and compounds inequities, it destroys democratic institutions and rights, strengthens monopoly power of Big Tech platforms, and is harmful to children, teens, families, and communities. If enacted, the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act would significantly curtail this business model and would be an important first step in building a better digital world,” said Katharina Kopp, Ph.D., Director of Policy for the Center for Digital Democracy.
“The endless collection of personal data to micro-target ads is the very core of Big Tech’s toxic business model and a powerful driving force behind the rise of extremism and misinformation, in addition to a myriad other societal harms. Industry’s incentive to engage in massive data collection and retention in pursuit of surveillance advertising has resulted in record profits for Big Tech, but comes at great cost to our personal privacy, security and the health of our democracy. The Banning Surveillance Advertising Act will not only protect consumers from this exploitative business practice, but also mitigate Big Tech’s unchecked harms as we face a growing environment of online manipulation and disinformation. We thank Reps. Eshoo and Schakowsky, and Sens. Wyden and Booker for their leadership, and call on Congress to advance this legislation with urgency,” said Nicole Gill, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Accountable Tech.
“The Internet has no longer become an open place of discovery, let alone one where advertisers can reach users or consumers based upon the merits of their service or product. Instead we are all increasingly subject to content coming at us based on predictions of what will outrage or arouse us, which at scale is disastrous for both democracy and any competitive market. The Banning Surveillance Ads Act will assist American consumers, citizens and businesses by ensuring that the Internet works for us all, rather than disorient or polarize us,” said Ramesh Srinivasan, Ph.D., Professor and Director of the University of California’s Digital Cultures Lab, author of Beyond the Valley.
“The best way to address the harm of Big Tech is to target their surveillance driven business model, rather than push for misguided censorship. The Banning Surveillance Ads Act smartly takes aim at the harmful business model that incentivizes Big Tech platforms to seek engagement at all costs, and it avoids the pitfalls of other legislation that raises significant civil liberties and First Amendment concerns. Fight for the Future is glad to endorse this bill,” said Evan Greer (she/her), director, Fight for the Future.
“We know that social media companies too often prioritize boosting engagement over beating extremism. Our research highlights how these companies’ tools directly amplify antisemitic, extremist and racist content, though they have the power and the capability to deamplify hate. We applaud the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act, championed by Rep. Eshoo, which could help break the cycle and ultimately, make the internet safer,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and National Director, Anti-Defamation League.
“Banning surveillance ads is essential if we want to address the disinformation crisis. Big Tech’s practice of targeting those most vulnerable to messaging has upended elections, harmed children and super charged hate and division. And tech companies reap the profits, while the rest of society pays the price. That's why lawmakers need to step in and ban surveillance ads for good,” said Vicky Wyatt, Campaign Director at Ekō.
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