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Lately, we’ve done a lot of social media advertising research using Meta’s ad repository. Why haven’t we used the other platforms? Because they are either unavailable or lack important features and data, despite legal obligations imposed by the EU Digital Services Act. 🇪🇺

Xiaoyao Ren, Callum Deery, and I assessed 24 designated Very Large Online Platforms’ (VLOPs’) and Very Large Online Search Engines’ (VLOSEs’) compliance with their Article 39 obligations. Published in Computer Law & Security Review: doi.org/10.1016/j.cl....

VLOPs and VLOSEs are required to provide a database of all advertising shown and transparency as to: who paid for each ad; which user demographics were targeted; and how many users were reached

Further, the repositories of Snap Inc. and X were unstable and failed to provide data consistently. Basic data (e.g., a copy of the ad, the identity of the advertiser, and the display period) were generally provided by most repositories.

However, as to more granular data, about half of the repositories failed to provide sufficient detail as to the precise user targeting criteria and the exact total number of users reached.

Indeed, 75% failed to provide country-based reach data, and only Meta provided reach broken down by demographic-based targeting criteria (age and gender).