top of page
Wireframe - 8.png

Characterizing the usability and usefulness of U.S. ad transparency systems

Kevin Bryson, Arthur Borem, Phoebe Moh, Omer Akgul, Laura Edelson, Tobias Lauinger, Michelle L Mazurek, Damon McCoy, Blase Ur

Conference Paper

|

May 15, 2025

access

featured in

Online targeted ads are those shown only to certain users based on interests, demographics, or behaviors. Because targeted ads raise many privacy concerns, many platforms provide ad transparency systems (ATSs) to inform users about this practice. To better understand what current ATSs are communicating to users—and how—we first taxonomized the design and content of 22 of the most popular English-language websites' ATSs as presented to users in the United States. We found substantial differences across ATSs in both the prevalence of transparency-enhancing features (e.g., whether they show users what has been inferred about them) and the presentation of information (e.g., the terminology used, where settings are located). Across all platforms, however, we observed consistent ambiguity about what data is used to target ads and the actual impact of altering settings. To gauge how these different design choices impact users, we conducted an online user study in which 198 participants used their own account to explore the ATS of one of eight representative platforms. We found that many of the questions participants hoped the ATS would answer remained unanswered after exploring the ATS. More broadly, participants found current ATSs simultaneously complex and lacking key details. We pinpoint ATS design decisions that best support users.

citation

Bryson, K., Borem, A., Moh, P., Akgul, O., Edelson, L., Lauinger, T., Mazurek, M. L., McCoy, D., & Ur, B. (2025). Characterizing the usability and usefulness of U.S. ad transparency systems. In 2025 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP) (pp. 1270–1287). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/SP61157.2025.00148

topics

Online Privacy

Artificial Intelligence

related work

Rectangle 35
Broken, Buried, or Missing: Anatomies of Failure (and Success) of Social Media Child Safety Features

June 29, 2026

Lexie Matsumoto, Arturo Béjar, Abdulraheem Arar, Damon McCoy, Laura Edelson

Social Media
Expert Opinion
Rectangle 35
Measuring Agency-Amplifying AI Literacy: The HuskyAI Coaching Platform for Workforce Readiness

July 1, 2026

John P. Wihbey, Yash Phalle, Shashank Kadiyala, Caleb Okereke

Artificial Intelligence

Working Paper

Rectangle 35
How Americans Spend their Time Online

June 8, 2026

David Lazer, Burak Ozturan, Christo Wilson, David Choffnes, Cassidy Waldrip, Hsiu-Chi Lu, John Wihbey

Social Media
Online Behavior
Expert Opinion
bottom of page