Uncover the hidden harms in child-directed websites that expose children to inappropriate and explicit advertisements and content.About this Event
Register to explore a groundbreaking study on web tracking and advertising on child-directed websites. The research, which analyzes 2,000 sites, finds that nearly 90% embed trackers and 27% feature targeted ads, often without parental consent, violating privacy regulations. The study also reveals inappropriate ads promoting products such as dating services, weight loss treatments, mental health treatments, sex toys, flirting chat services, even explicit content, with disturbing imagery. These findings highlight significant concerns about privacy violations and unsafe advertising practices, urging stronger regulatory action to protect children online.
This event invites participants from all disciplines and backgrounds to come together, fostering interdisciplinary connections and discussions.
Talk Abstract: Targeted and Troublesome: Tracking and Advertising on Children’s Websites
The modern web is rife with trackers and advertisers building detailed user profiles—often without consent. While prior research has extensively examined web tracking and online ads, little attention has been given to websites targeting children. In this talk, we present the first large-scale measurement of tracking and advertising on child-directed websites. Since no comprehensive list of child-directed websites exists, we begin by developing a multilingual classifier to compile a dataset of 2,000 sites. Using an automated crawler, we visit these sites from multiple vantage points to measure the presence of trackers, browser fingerprinting scripts, and targeted ads. We find that nearly 90% of these sites embed trackers, and 27% contain targeted advertising—practices that should require verifiable parental consent under existing regulations.
Beyond tracking, we investigate inappropriate advertisements on child-directed websites by developing a machine learning pipeline that analyzes both images and text extracted from ads. The pipeline enables us to perform semantic similarity searches for various keywords, uncovering ads that promote dating services, weight loss products, mental health treatments, as well as sex toys and flirting chat services. Alarmingly, some of these ads contain highly inappropriate, sexually explicit, and disturbing imagery. Our findings point to widespread non-compliance with privacy regulations and raise serious concerns about ad safety practices on child-directed websites. To better protect children online, regulators and industry stakeholders must implement and enforce stricter measures.
Biography: Gunes Acar is an Assistant Professor at the Digital Security group of Radboud University. Gunes’ research focuses on uncovering security and privacy threats stemming from websites, mobile apps, and IoT devices, with a unique emphasis on unconventional online tracking technologies.
He also studies deceptive and manipulative (dark) design patterns and anonymous communication systems such as Tor. His pioneering research have received prestigious awards such as the CNIL-Inria Privacy Protection Award and Future of Privacy Forum’s Annual Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award; influenced web standards, and led to the deployment of fixes across websites, browsers and smart home devices. His work has received extensive coverage by major media outlets, including the BBC, Der Spiegel, The New York Times, Wired, NOS, and Le Monde. Prior to Radboud, Gunes worked at Princeton University, and KU Leuven, where he also obtained his PhD from. Outside of academia, Gunes has been an active contributor to open source projects, and he has given invited talks at several regulatory bodies in the EU and the US. More on Gunes’ research and contributions can be found on www.gunesacar.net.
Photography will take place at this event. If you do not wish to be photographed, please speak to an event organiser upon event registration.
Connect with the Centre for Digital Trust and Society
The Centre for Digital Trust and Society organises the DTS Guest Seminar Series and is a focal point for research across the University of Manchester that explores aspects of trust and security in our digital world. The Centre is part of Digital Futures, a highly interdisciplinary network which operates across the whole range of the University of Manchester's digital research.
About Digital Futures:
Digital Futures is a highly interdisciplinary network that operates across the whole range of the University’s digital research. We aim to present a coherent overview of The University of Manchester's digital research activity to external stakeholders and bring together research communities to explore new research areas and address strategic opportunities.
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Event Venue
Emmeline Suite, Christabel Pankhurst Building, Dover Street, Manchester, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
