Paper short abstract:

Through the lens of Apple’s 2021 App Tracking Transparency feature, this paper examines (1) how control is nested and sits at different layers of the infrastructural “ad stack,” and (2) how different types of data shape the distribution of power in the digital advertising ecosystem.

Paper long abstract:

At its core, app-based advertising is a prototypical two-sided market, connecting a supply- or sell-side (e.g., static display ads or videos on mobile devices) with a demand- or buy- side of corporations and institutions seeking the attention of end- users. Yet, this seemingly simple process of matching the ‘right’ set of eyeballs with a ‘relevant’ ad has spawned a global, data- driven ecosystem. This paper examines how a few large tech companies–most prominently Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple–exercise power and control over this relatively open ecosystem.

It pursues this inquiry through a case study on the 2021 introduction of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature—a privacy setting newly integrated in the operating system of iOS mobile devices. This case study allows us to examine: 1) how infrastructural control is nested and sits at different layers of the ‘ad stack’, and (2) how the mass diffusion of mobile devices has shifted the loci of control in the broader advertising ecosystem.

To understand how ATT reshuffles power relations in the digital advertising ecosystem, we use a mix-methods approach that involves (1) analysis of developer documentation provided by Apple, (2) a review of ongoing litigation, and (3) analysis of financial disclosure forms of two ad- driven platforms Meta and Snapchat.