…it protects our freedom of thought

Over the past decade targeted advertisement has become exponentially more invasive. To enable targeted advertisement, massive amounts of data about individuals are collected, shared and processed often without their knowledge or consent. This information about us is then used to profile us and micro-target us to sell us products or influence our views.

This is a significant intrusion to our privacy inevitably affects our perogative not to reveal our thoughts; not to have our thoughts manipulated and not to be punished for our thoughts, as well as our freedom to express ourselves.

Targeted ads regularly seek to be manipulative, targeting us when we are most vulnerable. Ad-tech companies use information we’ve looked at - like quizzes we’ve taken to work out if we might be depressed, building detailed and ever-evolving profiles of ourselves.

There is a reason why advertisers are so interested in who we are and how we feel; understanding when we’re in a vulnerable state of mind means we can be strategically targeted. Knowing when we’re feeling low means an advertiser might try and sell us a food supplement that is supposed to make us feel strong and focused.

Our interests, our passions, our fears, are all entry points for manipulating our thoughts.

Our freedom to hold opinions without interference is absolute, however, increasingly ad-tech represents a new frontier for that interference.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Article 19, Freedom of Expression