Ban

Surveillance

Advertising

Join the fight for bold reform.

Big Tech’s toxic business model is undermining democracy.

Thank you for supporting our effort to ban surveillance advertising!
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What is surveillance advertising? 
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We must take action today.

This is not a partisan issue: 4-in-5 Americans support a ban on surveillance advertising.

As a diverse coalition of leaders across issues and industries – backed by an army of grassroots supporters – we are calling for an end to this toxic business practice.

Accountable Tech logo
Action Center on Race & the Economy logo
Alliance to Counter Crime Online logo
American Economic Liberties Project logo
Anti-Defamation League logo
Artist Rights Alliance logo
Avaaz logo
Center For Countering Digital Hate logo
Center for Digital Democracy logo
Center for Humane Technology Logo
Citizens Privacy Coalition of Santa Clara County logo
Common Sense Media logo
Consumer Federation of America Logo
Decode Democracy Logo
Demand Progress logo
Demos logo
Electronic Privacy Information Center logo
Fair Vote Logo
Fairplay
Fight Corporate Monopolies Logo
Fight for the Future Logo
Free Speech For People Logo
Global Action Plan Logo
Global Witness logo
Guns Down America logo
Institute for Strategic Dialogue Logo
Kairos Logo
LULAC Loog
Liberation in a Generation
Media Matters Logo
National Hispanic Media Coalition logo
New Economics Foundation logo
Open MIC logo
Open Markets Institute logo
Open Rights Group logo
Parents Together logo
Partnership for Working Families logo
People's Action logo
Public Citizen Logo
Sleeping Giants logo
Social Security Works logo
Stop Predatory Gambling logo
Sum of Us logo
Tech Transparency Project logo
Tech Workers Action logo
The Campaign for Gambling-Free Kids logo
The Real Facebook Oversight Board Logo
Social Dilemma logo
Ultra Violet Logo
Xnet Logo

See our coalition letter:

"The invisible ‘editors’ of today’s information ecosystem are the opaque algorithms and recommender systems built by tech companies that track and target us. They amplify misogyny, racism, hate, junk science and disinformation – weaponizing every societal fault line with relentless surveillance to maximize “engagement”. This surveillance-for-profit business model is built on the con of our supposed consent…This unethical business model must be reined in globally."

Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov
,
Nobel Peace laureates

"Surveillance advertising has robbed newspapers, magazines, and independent writers of their livelihoods and commoditized their work – and all we got in return were a couple of abusive monopolists. That's not a good bargain for society. By banning this practice, we will return the unique value of writing, audio, and video to the people who make it rather than those who aggregate it.”

David Heinemeier Hansson
,
Creator of Ruby on Rails; Founder & CTO at Basecamp & HEY

"As software developers, we recognized the deep harms endemic to the surveillance advertising industry – from malware distribution and slow site performance to algorithmic discrimination and the rampant abuse of personal data – and decided to build an ethical alternative. Our ad network depends exclusively on contextual targeting, and with over 100 advertisers and publishers thriving in this ecosystem, we are proving that surveillance-free models can work for all involved."

Eric Holscher
,
Co-founder of EthicalAds & Read the Docs

"The creation of so many modern harms – from the violent extremism growing in our societies to anti vaxx misinformation – is rooted in Facebook and Google's toxic addiction to surveillance advertising. Ending invasive snooping on users and the sale of users' intimate thoughts and feelings to advertisers would remove the financial incentives that drive so much online and offline harm."

Imran Ahmed
,
CEO of Center for Countering Digital Hate

“Tech companies continually fail to center their policies on protecting the vast majority of their users from hate, harassment, and harm. Because to do so would curb their ability to make a profit under their current business model. The Ban Surveillance Advertising campaign goes right to the heart of this problem. It's long past time for Big Tech to stop exploiting extremism and disinformation for profit. We need to hold them accountable.”

Melissa Ryan
,
Editor of Ctrl Alt-Right Delete; CEO of CARD Strategies

“‘Big Social’s attention-based business model creates addicts of its users to drive advertising revenue. Addiction occurs because the finely-tuned algorithms on these platforms prioritize extreme, controversial, and polarizing content proven to keep us scrolling and sharing. The consequences of social media overuse have been severe and include dramatic increases in depression and suicide.”

Tim Kendall
,
CEO of Moment; former Director of Monetization at Facebook

“Data surveillance has become an increasingly harmful tool that lines the pockets of tech executives at the expense of our privacy, safety and security. In order to keep on hauling more profits, Big Tech wants to keep Americans addicted to their devices feeding people content that is extreme in nature. As we have seen in the last year, this creates irreparable harms in our communities and our democracy. Big Tech must stop this practice.”

Vanessa Cardenas
,
Strategic Victory Fund Disinformation Defense Project

"Facebook and Google possess enormous monopoly power, combined with the surveillance regimes of authoritarian states and the addiction business model of cigarettes. Congress has broad authority to regulate their business models and should use it to ban them from engaging in surveillance advertising."

Zephyr Teachout
,
Associate Professor of Law at Fordham Law School
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