By Nick Stringer, a global technology, public policy, and regulatory affairs adviser. His extensive experience includes serving as the former Director of Regulatory Affairs at the UK Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB UK.
Trust is the thread that holds society together. It binds relationships, fosters partnerships, and fuels transactions. Yet its importance is rarely felt until it snaps. In advertising, trust has always been a delicate balance: essential for influence, yet constantly tested by skepticism.
As technology enables marketing to become more interactive and personalised, advertising continues to fuel the digital economy: powering content, innovation, and consumer choice. But trust, no matter how advanced the tools, remains perilously fragile: built over years, shattered in seconds.
This latest edition of ByteWise Insights explores how advertising can help build meaningful trust online. Public policy in the digital sphere often tries to drive market change to reflect society’s wishes and needs. But this is sometimes unrealistic, unworkable, more often than not fragmented, and implementation and enforcement can be sketchy.
Ultimately the digital advertising market follows the money. Regulatory compliance matters (especially if there are hefty penalties), but it’s mostly about revenue. Therefore the real power lies with those with the ‘purchasing power’: the advertisers. In a complex supply chain, they alone can demand transparency and accountability. After all, their brand reputation depends on it.
Technology is changing the world again
Whether we like it or not, the AI revolution is reshaping our world. The advertising industry finds itself at the forefront of this transformation, just as it was during the internet’s rise in the 1990s. For example, search engines – probably the dominant ad-powered gateway to the web – are now being augmented, and potentially rivalled, by AI chatbots.
These tools are rapidly carving out new roles from conversational assistants to creative collaborators and personalised explainers. Google’s reported testing of ads in its Gemini AI chatbot may signal a pivotal shift: AI-driven interactions may not just complement the existing ad ecosystem but disrupt it entirely.
We will see. But – regardless – the pace of change is staggering and there will inevitably be winners and losers. Policymakers (and therefore regulators), often constrained by rigid, prescriptive frameworks rather than agile, risk-based approaches, may lag behind. In an environment where technology increasingly evolves faster than legislation, the burden of shaping a trustworthy digital marketplace falls to industry itself.
From content to data: the changing trust factor
For many years, the advertising industry – led by the UK – has worked to strengthen trust in advertising, underpinned by a well-established and industry-funded system of co- and self-regulation to ensure ads remain ‘legal, decent, honest, and truthful’. These efforts appear to be yielding results.
According to the UK Advertising Association, trust in advertising rose from 36% to 39% in 2024, driven largely by 18–34-year-olds. However, despite this uptick, digital advertising still lags behind other formats, such as broadcast TV or cinema. Many people remain wary of digital ads, as reflected in rising ad-blocker usage. In April 2024, 36% of 16–24-year-olds in the UK used ad blockers.
This is not necessarily because of the content of the ad but more about how data is used to make it more effective. Data is the lifeblood of digital advertising. Globally, skepticism persists around how brands and their ad partners handle this data, and this increases when the use of data in AI is factored in.
Despite existing protections like the GDPR, people are willing to abandon organisations that breach their trust. The solution to these concerns lies not in more or stricter legislation or regulation but in brand advertisers themselves taking action. Take Google’s (now reversed) plan to eliminate third-party cookies in Chrome as an example: the shift toward privacy-centric advertising models was driven primarily by commercial incentives and market forces – not really by regulation or enforcement.
Only ad money will create a meaningful ‘privacy first’ approach
Despite Google’s policy reversal, brands and their partners must keep investing in trust-building strategies because, in the end, consumer confidence hinges on their choices. For years, I’ve advocated for a balanced approach: maintaining digital advertising’s economic value while protecting personal data and privacy.
Yet nearly a decade after the GDPR, meaningful progress toward privacy-first solutions remains a little sluggish. Innovative tech stacks, new ad formats, and people-friendly consent tools exist and continue to emerge, but fragmentation in the ad market, particularly for Connected TV (CTV) – a key growth area for global ad spend – adds complexity. As political priorities shift toward growth, trust and safety risk being sidelined.
Historically, many in the ad tech industry have treated privacy as a box-ticking exercise, focused on compliance. Most of these companies (outside of Big Tech) operate as intermediary actors, disconnected from the very consumers they target. Yet brand advertisers hold the power – and the purse strings – to demand real change.
This isn’t just about data protection; it’s about championing broader societal values such as safeguarding children, responsible AI deployment, sustaining quality journalism, and ensuring brand safety. To their credit, advertiser trade groups push for ethical data practices, prioritising genuine engagement and relationship-building. But the rhetoric still outweighs practical market action. Perhaps understandably, research in the US suggests that, whilst brand safety is a concern for advertisers, it comes second to the pursuit of performance in a world of economic uncertainty.
Brand advertisers must lead the charge
The digital advertising industry is at a crossroads. Technology will continue to evolve at breakneck speed, probably outpacing policymakers’ and regulators’ ability to keep up. Having been immersed in the digital advertising ‘privacy debate’ from ePrivacy to GDPR, the lesson is clear: compliance alone won’t cut it, especially if regulation is unrealistic. People don’t reward brands for just checking regulatory boxes: they reward transparency, respect, and authenticity.
As policymakers debate regulatory frameworks, advertisers wield the true power: their budgets. By assessing and mitigating risks in the supply chain, they can enforce ethical data practices, choosing quality over mere compliance. When incentives align with long-term trust, advertisers become the key force capable of transforming the ecosystem from within.
This isn’t just about privacy. It’s about showing that advertising can help address many of society’s challenges. The tools exist and the business case is undeniable. Now, industry must choose: will it cling to outdated playbooks, or lead the charge toward a future where trust and responsibility isn’t an afterthought, but the foundation?
As Uncle Ben famously told Peter Parker: “With great power comes great responsibility”. For brand advertisers, this isn’t just a mantra, it’s a mandate. They wield immense influence, and with it, an obligation to shape a better digital ecosystem.
