Wanted to make sure you saw this email from earlier, friend.

In a nutshell: Big Tech makes loads of money thanks to something called “surveillance advertising.” They follow you around the internet, keep track of your personal information, and allow advertisers to use that information to target you.

Now, you may be thinking, “that’s a little creepy, but what’s the big deal?” The problem is that surveillance advertising incentivizes social media platforms to amplify extremism, lies, and divisive content because it keeps people on the platform longer and generates more engagement, which in turn means more data (that is to say, your personal information) to sell to advertisers.

There’s only one solution to this vicious cycle: End surveillance advertising. Read the email below for more, then sign on to demand an end to surveillance advertising now.

Thanks,

Jesse
Co-founder
Accountable Tech


---------- Forwarded Message ----------
From: Accountable Tech HQ
Subject: Our new campaign: Ending surveillance advertising

We’re calling for an end to Big Tech's surveillance advertising
 

Friend,

Gatekeepers like Facebook and Google that shape public discourse and the flow of information rank among the world’s wealthiest companies, but their platforms are free …

How do they do it? Is it a miracle?

No. Far from it. Big Tech makes their billions and trillions by using something called “surveillance advertising.” In other words, they use people’s personal data for the purpose of digital ad targeting.

You and I aren’t their true customers; we’re only valuable insofar as our attention and data serves these companies’ actual business model: surveillance advertising. Social media companies like Facebook and Google track our behavior, profile us, and determine the content each of us sees based on what will keep us clicking -- so they can serve us more ads and extract more data.

But surveillance advertising has a terrible cost. It incentivizes Big Tech to amplify extremism, lies, and divisive content because that’s what generates the most engagement.

Conspiracy theories, echo chambers, and radicalization are features, not bugs -- mechanisms to keep us hooked in service of making cold, hard cash.

The only way out of this quagmire is to remove Big Tech’s financial incentive to stoke lies and extremism -- and that begins with banning surveillance advertising. Watch our video to learn more about our new campaign to end this toxic business model.

Surveillance advertising creates a vicious cycle: Big Tech stokes extremism on their platforms >> the extremism keeps users scrolling on their platforms longer >> the companies collect more personal data >> the companies sell this data to advertisers >> the advertisers run hyper-targeted ads >> Big Tech finds more extremism to stoke -- and the cycle repeats ad nauseam.

This isn’t a content problem. It’s a structural one. It’s the way these companies have designed their platforms to run. And until we pressure them to restructure their platforms, nothing will change.

Watch our launch video and then please consider donating to support our new campaign. We cannot allow Big Tech to continue tearing our society apart by intentionally stoking extremism and lies on their platforms.

-- Accountable Tech