Human Ads: Towards Fair Advertising in Content Monetization on Social Media
HUMANads aims to establish a European legal framework for fair advertising by human ads on social media, addressing transparency issues in commercial and political communications through interdisciplinary research.
Projectdetails
Introduction
Human ads are Internet influencers who earn revenue by creating and monetizing authentic and relatable advertising content for their armies of followers, by relying on business models such as influencer and affiliate marketing.
Advertising Content
This content often results not only in commercial but also political (hidden) ads, which look the same, are posted by the same persons, are displayed in the same digital space, to the same audiences, and raise the same transparency issues. In this environment, consumers and citizens can no longer distinguish between ads and non-ads, and between commercial and political communications.
Transparency Issues
They are faced with a double transparency problem:
- Human ads have incentives to hide commercial interests.
- Platforms have incentives to algorithmically amplify human ads engagement in opaque ways.
This reflects a general good faith and fair dealing problem: the social media economy is increasingly based on deceit, which leads to new forms of vulnerability for consumers and citizens in digital markets.
Research Gap
Given its complexity and relative novelty, this phenomenon has not yet been the object of sustained academic or regulatory inquiry. HUMANads tackles this comprehensive research gap by exploring why a general European legal regime on fair advertising by human ads on social media platforms is necessary, and what it would entail.
Objectives
First, it articulates a new theory of fair advertising in EU consumer law, in the context of content monetization by human ads across commercial and political speech.
Second, it gathers evidence relating to business models, advertising prevalence, and legal uncertainty through innovative interdisciplinary methods including digital ethnography, comparative law, and natural language processing (NLP).
Third, it proposes criteria for the assessment of resulting consumer harms, and translates them into a new normative governance model mandating more stringent transparency obligations on social media platforms.
Financiële details & Tijdlijn
Financiële details
Subsidiebedrag | € 1.500.000 |
Totale projectbegroting | € 1.500.000 |
Tijdlijn
Startdatum | 1-7-2022 |
Einddatum | 30-6-2027 |
Subsidiejaar | 2022 |
Partners & Locaties
Projectpartners
- UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHTpenvoerder
Land(en)
Vergelijkbare projecten binnen European Research Council
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Three Generations of Digital Human RightsThis research program analyzes the evolution of digital human rights and protection strategies in response to online challenges, employing multiple methodologies to assess their effectiveness and legitimacy. | ERC Advanced... | € 2.500.000 | 2023 | Details |
Designing Social Media Recommendation Algorithms for Societal GoodThe project aims to enhance social media algorithms by integrating civic discourse values to reduce risks to social cohesion while balancing freedom of expression through participatory design and risk assessment. | ERC Starting... | € 2.037.464 | 2025 | Details |
Measuring and Mitigating Risks of AI-driven Information Targeting
This project aims to assess the risks of AI-driven information targeting on individuals, algorithms, and platforms, and propose protective measures through innovative measurement methodologies.
Foundations for Antitrust and Policy on Digital Platforms
This project analyzes the monopolistic behaviors of online marketplaces, evaluating their impact on competition and proposing policy solutions to mitigate consumer harm and unintended consequences.
Incentivizing Citizen Exposure to Quality News Online: Framework and Tools
NEWSUSE aims to enhance democratic resilience by developing a model and tools to sustainably increase quality news consumption among citizens, addressing low news use as a critical issue.
Three Generations of Digital Human Rights
This research program analyzes the evolution of digital human rights and protection strategies in response to online challenges, employing multiple methodologies to assess their effectiveness and legitimacy.
Designing Social Media Recommendation Algorithms for Societal Good
The project aims to enhance social media algorithms by integrating civic discourse values to reduce risks to social cohesion while balancing freedom of expression through participatory design and risk assessment.
Vergelijkbare projecten uit andere regelingen
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Tokenizr.Het project ontwikkelt een transparant platform dat consumenten een interactieve spaarervaring biedt en retailers een nieuw loyaliteitsprogramma, gekoppeld aan influencer-activiteiten. | Mkb-innovati... | € 20.000 | 2020 | Details |
Self-service media-campagne platformHet project ontwikkelt een gebruiksvriendelijk self-service platform voor dynamische Rich Media advertenties, gericht op gepersonaliseerde campagnes via big data en in-app metingen. | Mkb-innovati... | € 164.400 | 2015 | Details |
Haalbaarheidsonderzoek Cookieless futureHarvest Digital onderzoekt de haalbaarheid van een managementlaag die gebruikers inzicht en controle biedt over hun data en hen beloont voor het delen ervan. | Mkb-innovati... | € 20.000 | 2021 | Details |
Sociaal media platformHet project ontwikkelt een nieuw sociaal mediaplatform dat de privacy van kwetsbare gebruikers beschermt door innovatieve technologieën te integreren, zonder dataverzameling door multinationals. | Mkb-innovati... | € 20.000 | 2020 | Details |
Find the fair stuff with FairifyFairify ontwikkelt een browserextensie die consumenten helpt duurzame alternatieven te vinden en bewust te maken van de milieu-impact van hun aankopen, met ondersteuning van AI en mogelijk blockchain. | Mkb-innovati... | € 19.200 | 2020 | Details |
Tokenizr.
Het project ontwikkelt een transparant platform dat consumenten een interactieve spaarervaring biedt en retailers een nieuw loyaliteitsprogramma, gekoppeld aan influencer-activiteiten.
Self-service media-campagne platform
Het project ontwikkelt een gebruiksvriendelijk self-service platform voor dynamische Rich Media advertenties, gericht op gepersonaliseerde campagnes via big data en in-app metingen.
Haalbaarheidsonderzoek Cookieless future
Harvest Digital onderzoekt de haalbaarheid van een managementlaag die gebruikers inzicht en controle biedt over hun data en hen beloont voor het delen ervan.
Sociaal media platform
Het project ontwikkelt een nieuw sociaal mediaplatform dat de privacy van kwetsbare gebruikers beschermt door innovatieve technologieën te integreren, zonder dataverzameling door multinationals.
Find the fair stuff with Fairify
Fairify ontwikkelt een browserextensie die consumenten helpt duurzame alternatieven te vinden en bewust te maken van de milieu-impact van hun aankopen, met ondersteuning van AI en mogelijk blockchain.