'Is This Even an Ad?': Why Advertising Transparency Matters in the Age of Algorithmic Marketing
Wura Sanusi, advertising policy advocate, takes over Common Ground to examine how seamless advertising and opaque algorithms are reshaping consumer behaviour and undermining journalistic integrity.
From Broadcast to Algorithms: The Evolution of Transparency in Advertising
Advertising is one of the most powerful forces in modern society. Few industries have such far-reaching influence—it drives the global economy while shaping public opinion, guiding consumer behaviour, and influencing our daily routines. In 2024, global digital advertising spend surpassed $740 billion, with a significant share flowing through algorithm-driven platforms.
Given the influence of these platforms, we must collectively demand greater accountability, particularly in areas such as transparency and algorithmic curation.
Technological advancement has dramatically transformed the advertising landscape. What was once confined to scheduled commercial breaks on television—like the iconic Cadbury’s gorilla ad—is now seamlessly embedded across streaming platforms, podcasts, and even smart devices in our homes. Advertisers can now define their target audiences with remarkable precision, using granular tools to pinpoint users not just by age and location, but by data points such as browsing history, income level, and even weather conditions.
Combined with AI-powered tools like lookalike audiences and behavioural modelling, advertisers can integrate themselves into consumers’ daily experiences almost invisibly.
While this evolution is impressive, it raises a critical question: what happens when advertising becomes so embedded in our lives that we stop noticing it altogether?
Transparency in Brand Partnerships Is Vital
As advertising continues to evolve, ensuring accountability across the entire ecosystem becomes essential. One of the key challenges is transparency—particularly in brand partnerships on social media. In 2024, the European Commission conducted a sweep of influencer posts and found that while 97% featured commercial content, only 1 in 5 clearly disclosed it as advertising. The public must be able to distinguish between genuine opinion and paid content. When an online video features a world-renowned footballer endorsing a wellness drink, audiences deserve to know whether it’s a personal recommendation or part of a scripted brand deal.
Responsibility for transparency lies across the ecosystem— from the platforms that host the content, to the brands that sponsor it, to the creators who deliver it. While tools like Instagram’s “Paid Partnership” and TikTok’s “Commission Paid” offer some clarity, we must ask: do they go far enough?
Opaque Algorithmic Systems and Journalism
A growing concern in the advertising ecosystem is the impact of social media algorithms on news content. Social platforms have become the de facto distribution infrastructure for journalism, effectively acting as editorial gatekeepers. These algorithms determine what content is visible, subtly reshaping how journalism is produced and monetised. J
Journalists and news outlets are increasingly pressured to tailor their content to align with opaque algorithms that prioritise engagement and virality over editorial value or public interest.
The traditional role of journalism—to serve the public and hold power to account—is being rebalanced toward attention capture. This shift risks eroding public trust in journalism. To restore integrity, we must demand greater transparency from social media platforms.
Key questions must be addressed:
How is news content ranked and recommended?
Should algorithmic amplification be treated as editorial intervention subject to regulation?
Where Do We Go from Here?
As the social media advertising ecosystem continues to evolve, we can no longer view these challenges in isolation. There is a shared responsibility to build and preserve a healthy information environment that prioritises trust and transparency. While legislation such as the Digital Services Act (2024) and the Online Safety Act (2023) introduces important obligations around transparency and platform accountability, it remains unclear whether they go far enough to regulate this rapidly evolving space.
If advertising is truly shaping public thought at scale, then we have a right—not just as consumers, but as citizens—to demand transparency alongside this evolution.
So, what kind of transparency do we need?
An algorithmic transparency code, informed by public interest principles and backed by regulators
Greater enforcement powers across the industry to address non-disclosure and transparency failures
Industry-wide standards for transparency tools—potentially exploring AI-driven solutions for ad disclosure
The stakes are too high, and our democratic discourse too valuable, to accept anything less.