Jamie Barnard, the CEO of a privacy compliance software startup called Compliant, recently told me in passing, “I don’t know that there’s such a thing as pure compliance in media.”
Interesting statement coming from the head of a company literally named “Compliant.”
But it’s true. The Minotaur’s labyrinth has got nothing on the ad tech ecosystem.
Even companies that make good-faith efforts to comply with data protection laws can unwittingly end up with front-row seats to the privacy theater.
For example, according to Compliant’s research, 88% of the consent management platforms in Europe haven’t been properly deployed and still allow websites to collect personal information before visitors have a chance to opt in (or not).
“Even when people think they’re compliant,” Barnard told me, “the reality of what’s happening behind the veil often tells a completely different story.”
The long view
And Barnard has spent a lot of time peeking behind the veil.
Before joining Compliant last year, he was at Unilever for nearly 16 years, most recently as the brand’s general counsel for global marketing, media and ecommerce.
Roughly 10 years ago, when viewability was one of the ad industry’s top concerns (what an innocent time), Unilever, together with GroupM, threw down the gauntlet and demanded ads be 100% in-view before they’re counted as viewable. The Media Rating Council had set its bar at 50% of the ad unit pixels in view.
“We said, ‘We’re not going to pay for impressions that no one’s seeing,” Barnard said. “Why would you pay for media that no one gets to see, right?”
In a way, viewability is not unlike data privacy. Both require transparency and trust.
Advertisers deserve viewable ads and transparency into inventory quality, just like publishers deserve to be able to trust their partners, and consumers – people – deserve to have their choices respected.
‘Easy pickings’
But the similarity ends there.
Viewability is essentially a budget metric, whereas data compliance is on another level altogether.
“We’re talking about genuine liability – corporate liability,” Barnard said. And advertising businesses have a target on their backs, “because regulators are in business, too – the business of enforcing privacy, and it’s easy pickings.”
Easy pickings because … “just look at the state of the media supply chain,” Barnard said. “I don’t think most companies could withstand an audit of their data flows.”
And industry compliance tools, like IAB Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF), leave much to be desired.
To be fair, the TCF is attempting a difficult, complex maneuver, Barnard said.
“But there’s no way that people fully appreciate what they’re agreeing to when they opt in to the TCF,” he said. “And if anything is certain, it’s that we’re moving to a future where consent – meaningful consent – will be the only way to justify data processing, at least in Europe.”
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