Amazon’s new ad verification program will pay users $2 a month — if they make the ads they see on their smartphones available.
Currently, the scheme is only available to Amazon Shopper Panel members in the UK and US, and it’s a rewards program that already allows users to hand in third-party shopping receipts in exchange for perks.
Those with the Amazon Shopper Panel app will see a setup to sign up for the ad verification service, informing users that it will “collect and use information about where and when you see ads from Amazon, for example the app or website you saw the ad on and the time of day you saw it.”
privacy concerns
The ads in question can be those from Amazon directly, but also from third party companies that advertise through Amazon Advertising.
Amazon says it uses personal information for interest-based ads, as well as to make recommendations on certain features for shoppers to use.
Those who have signed up can opt out at any time and can delete their personal information. The company also claims that it will not share the personal data it collects with anyone else, unless it is required to conduct a transaction with a third party, such as a seller on Amazon, or to comply with law.
Amazon’s history of being transparent about personal data has been less than stellar. Last year, the company Fined nearly $1 billion for violating the General Data Protection Regulationand his The gift registries feature allowed anyone to collect personal information about users.
None of this appears to have stopped Amazon from increasing its data collection activities, nor have similar attempts from other tech giants that have subsequently failed. In 2012, Google Screenwise offered Amazon gift cards to those looking to monitor their network traffic, and in 2016 Facebook offered gift cards to 13-25-year-olds for installing a VPN that allowed the company to view their web usage habits.