Is the Internet Targeting You?
On any social media platform you have probably seen some ads that look very familiar. Big companies use a technique called targeted advertising where they observe what links you click on, what websites you look at and what pictures you view to determine which ads to show you. So next time you click that picture of a cute dog, don't be surprised to see a dog food ad later in the day. It sounds like these companies are just doing their job but when you do it illegally it becomes a big problem. Google, the owner of YouTube, was recently fined $170 million by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for violating privacy policies. YouTube uses targeted advertising on all of their users, even the kids on their child version of the app (ages 7 and younger). The problem is that they were collecting data from these children without express consent from the parents/guardians. Commissioner of the FTC, Rohit Chopra, explained his logic for the fine, "[YouTube] baited kids with nursery rhy