>The adtech industry has 2 of the most valuable companies in the world and generates petabytes of data and billions in profit proving how well ads work Targett

>The adtech industry has 2 of the most valuable companies in the world and generates petabytes of data and billions in profit proving how well ads work Targetting a demographic in terms of search or social media or television makes sense — the information is there simply by virtue using the platform. This is fine and well, and what the article agrees with. Pulling it from demographic to individual by means of mass data collection is quite new, and unproven — facebook and google made their money before profiling was a major thing, and thus their wealth is not proof that its successful; they certainly believe theres mobey in it, as well as the advertisers and trackers, and are transitioning to it, but they aren’t proof that they wouldn’t be just as successful if they never transitioned. Ads work. This has been shown by the last century of their existence in every medium they can fit in. Personalized ads, specifically those that are based on your non-current activities (eg buy on amazon and get served shopping ads when you later browse fb) are questionable.