Facebook is working to reshape the way its ad works to place more value and importance on user privacy according to Graham Mudd, Facebook’s VP of product marketing for ads.
Although the project is still in its infancy, it will explore various privacy-enhancing techniques to deliver ads without interfering with the privacy of certain people who view them.
Mudd told The Verge in an exclusive interview, “We definitely see that [ads] personalization will evolve very meaningfully over the course of the next five years. And that investing well ahead of that will benefit all of our customers and enable us to help shape that future state of the ads ecosystem.”
While some argue that Facebook’s stance on making advertising more privacy-conscious is a kind of defeat in the battle against the other tech giant, Apple, a representative for Facebook rejects that claim, saying, “We are advocating for a different and better approach to advancing privacy in advertising. One that is based on industry collaboration and a focus on supporting small businesses and an open internet economy. Apple’s approach is exactly the opposite: exerting its control over the App Store to benefit its own bottom line.”
Facebook is exploring a technology area called “on-device learning.”
Instead of sending data about users to the cloud, an algorithm runs locally on a phone to determine the type of ads that someone would consider compelling and then shows them said ads. The results are later sent back to the cloud in an anonymized and aggregated format for advertisers to review.
For more information, read the original story in The Verge.