"A year after a new wave of data protection regulations such as the European Union’s GDPR have come into effect, the websites of media outlets continue collecting great volumes of personal information—but often unintentionally, and typically for other parties. That so many media institutions hav ... e failed to safeguard this asset—to both protect the privacy and safety of their readers and to be in a better negotiating position with advertisers—suggests that education, capacity building, and direct support of independent news outlets is needed to improve their analytics activities and ensure that they safeguard reader privacy. Indeed, the findings in this report reveal that the current level of preparedness among smaller media companies in the Global South to protect their readers from being identified and to protect the commercial value of their analytics data is low. Experts consulted for this report said that this is unfortunate as many of the most common data analytic practices that independent media outlets engage in and benefit from do not require the use of personal information at all. While it will take additional effort by website operators, safeguarding the privacy rights of visitors may be good for business. This, in turn, could help improve the commercial viability of independent media." (Conclusion) more

"This analysis of digital advertising technology and its relevance to disinformation online is designed to broaden the focus in the current public debate beyond Russian operatives buying ads on social media. The problem is much bigger than that and the issues of concern are more diverse. Our analysi ... s points to the core challenge of disentangling the alignment of interests between the commercial pursuits of digital platform companies and the success of disinformation-based political advertisers. It is a mistake to fixate on Russia. Russia is one of many online disinformation operators targeting Americans. Future disinformation campaigns may just as likely be run by domestic operators as foreign ones. These operators will most likely leverage the most dominant U.S. internet platforms to reach tens upon hundreds of millions of Americans. The full range of these disinformation campaigns could produce a grave public harm. In particular, they can progressively weaken the integrity of our democracy by separating citizens from facts and polarizing our political culture." (Conclusions) more