Amazon’s New Ad Verification Program Will Pay Users 2 dollars a month if they consent to share with Amazon which advertisements they see on their smartphones.
The program is currently only available to members of Amazon shopping panel in the United Kingdom and the United States. This is a rewards program that already allows users to hand over receipts for third-party purchases in exchange for perks.
Those who have the Amazon Shopper Panel app will see an option to disable the ad verification service, informing users that “will collect and use information about where and when you see Amazon ads, for example, the app or website where you saw the ad and the time of day you saw it.”
The ads in question could be those from Amazon directly, but also those from third-party companies that advertise through Amazon Ads.
amazon says that uses personal information for interest-based advertising, as well as making recommendations on certain features that buyers should use.
Registrants can unsubscribe at any time and delete their personal information. The company also states that it will not share the personal data it collects with anyone else unless necessary for a transaction with a third party, such as a seller on Amazon’s website, or to comply with the law.
Amazon’s measure is not a pioneer. In 2012, Google Screenwise offered Amazon gift cards to those who wanted to have their network traffic monitored, and in 2016, Facebook offered gift cards to 13- to 25-year-olds to install a VPN that would allow the company to view web usage habits.