New Google Chrome extension brings more ad transparency

San Francisco: As part of its efforts to give people more visibility into the data used to personalise ads, Google has launched a new Chrome extension that lists all companies and services with a presence on the page including content delivery networks or analytics providers.

The extension includes the criteria used to show ads, the ad tech companies helping to display these ads, and the ad platform companies serving these ads on a web page.

Named Ads Transparency Spotlight, the early version of the extension is available on the official Chrome Web Store, ZDNet reported on Sunday.

At the time of release, it only shows information about those ads purchased through Google Ads that have implemented the Ad Disclosure Schema, a uniform system for advertisers to disclose how their ads work.

As others implement this schema, these ads will also appear in the extension.

“Over time, we hope the industry will incorporate the Ad Disclosure Schema into their ads,” Google said.

Google said it released the extension to provide a tool for transparency into the criteria being used to show ads.

“Our ultimate goal is to support a more transparent ad ecosystem globally,” the company added.