Legal and ethical challenges in digital advertising: addressing false advertising, privacy violations, and consumer manipulation through algorithmic and data-driven advertising systems
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The innovation of algorithmic technology in digital advertising is reshaping the marketing landscape, but the resulting compliance risks and ethical disputes are becoming increasingly significant. This study focuses on the three fundamental issues of false advertising, privacy violations, and consumption incentives caused by algorithmic recommendations. It assesses the effectiveness of the current regulatory system in protecting consumers rights and interests by combining typical case analysis and a large-scale sample survey. According to the data, nearly 40% of consumers have encountered misleading advertisements, of which only half were dealt with in a timely manner, reflecting the governance delay caused by the black-box algorithm. The abuse of user profiles is particularly problematic, with most respondents unclear about how their personal data is collected and used. The research highlights that there are institutional gaps in the current algorithm filing review mechanism, and it is suggested to establish a dynamic regulatory list and an inter-departmental collaborative governance system. These findings provide empirical evidence for improving the algorithmic accountability mechanism and the digital advertising data compliance framework, and have reference value for promoting the formation of a more ethical intelligent marketing model.
Author: Xiaofeng Cheng
Institution: UNSW Sydney
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4410608609