classical Argument draft

Friedel 1

Friedel Mischler

Professor Bates

ENGL-1213

02 September 2024

Is it ethical for social media companies to collect and use personal data for targeted advertising?

Introduction

Hook

Nowadays, social media companies have embraced the aspects of data collection and big

data. Consider a situation where you are exposed to adverts that are designed based on the

information you provide across social media. This is currently the situation that people are

exposed to given that every person is likely to be exposed to different sets of adverts based on

the information collected.

Purpose

The rise of social media and the increased digital technology has created a need to

collect, store, and use personal data. Social media companies benefit from the information shared

across social media for marketing purposes. As a result, personal data is vital for the success of

social media companies and therefore there is a need to evaluate the process of collecting and

using personal data and the implications this has on ethics and individual privacy. This can help

in understanding the conduct of social media companies and ensuring that personal data has been

used in a responsible manner.

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Create interests

The operations of the social media companies and the marketing initiatives is based on

the process of gathering personal information which influences the targeted advertising

decisions. The manner in which the information is collected and used raises issues such as ethics,

privacy, and transparency in the use of personal information. This includes accessibility of

personal information.

Claim statement

In the absence of personal consent, gathering and using personal data by social media

companies in targeted advertising lacks transparency and violates personal privacy.

I. Narration

a) Topic sentence: The existence and the operations of social media are based on the

company’s ability to collect and use personal information

b) Sentence setting context: The process of collecting and using personal information

impacts millions of people with access to social media platforms where their information

is collected and used by companies without consent or knowledge

c) Sentence setting context: Social media companies such as TikTok, Instagram, X

(Twitter), and Facebook are established on their ability to market products and services to

people across the globe while using the user’s data

d) Sentence setting context: why it is happening: social media companies such as TikTok,

Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook use personal data collected to increase their revenue

streams through advertising and promoting consumer engagement. This is the process

leads to target advertising

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e) More if necessary such as history- The rise of Facebook and Twitter (X) in the late 2000s

started a culture of use of personal information in targeted advertising and this has

changed as the concept of big data has developed

II. Confirmation

a. Conformation paragraph

i. Topic sentence: It is unethical for social media companies to gather and use

personal data without the social media users’ consent

ii. Supporting information: Millions of social media users are misinformed and

lack adequate information on the extent to which the information they provide

across social media companies can be used by social media companies. The

complex processes make it hard for the social media users to understand the

policies

iii. Supporting information and quote: “The emerging trend of targeted personal

advertising has led to an increase in privacy concerns from consumers”

(Dwivedi, et al., 2021).

iv. Quote support: the continued use of targeted advertising has created issues

such as privacy issues due to the manner in which the data is used across

social media

v. Conclusion sentence: therefore, the absence of informed consent in the social

media data and use of information creates ethical issues in the use of

information

b. Conformation II

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i. Topic sentence: Ethical issues arise from the inability of social media

companies to provide transparency in the collection and use of information

ii. Supporting information- In the past, there have been cases where social media

companies such as Facebook have collected and shared data with other

companies without the user’s consent

iii. Supporting with a quote- “The discovery that Facebook gave unfettered and

unauthorized access to personally identifiable information (PII) of more than

87 million unsuspecting Facebook users to the data firm Cambridge

Analytica1 has fueled growing interest in the debate over technology’s societal

impact and risks to citizens’ privacy and well-being” (Isaak, & Hanna, 2018).

iv. Explaining the quote: The sharing of the data by Facebook with a third party

further shows a lack of transparency on how the information collected and

shared by the social media companies

v. Conclusion: Therefore, lack of transparency in the collection, use, and sharing

of social, media impacts the manner in which social media companies use

social media

c. Conformation III

i. Topic sentence: targeting advertising and the use of personal data leads to the

exploitation of social media users

ii. Supporting information: social media users are exposed to adverts and this

shows that social media companies have focused more on expanding the

revenue streams while informing the need to safeguard the user’s data

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iii. Quote: According to Appel, Grewal, Hadi, and Stephen (2020) “From a

marketing perspective, the “omni-social” nature of the present environment

suggests that virtually every part of a consumer’s decision-making process is

prone to social media influence.”

iv. The quote shows that the use of targeted advertising has the ability to

influence the user’s decision-making process and this shows the extent to

which social media companies are able to use personal data in order to appeal

to the users

v. Conclusion- social media companies such as Facebook and TikTok operate

under revenue motives and therefore focus and the data and algorithms in

order to further achieve targeted advertising

III. Refutation

a) Topic sentence: the use of targeted advertising has a positive impact on the user’s

lives as it provides them with an opportunity to access products and ads that may

have a positive impact on their lives

b) Further explanation: the use of social media is important as it helps the users to

increase their level of engagement and this is important as it impacts their

decision-making process. According to Alalwan, (2018), “This is also due to the

nature of social media ads as they empower customers to have more engagement

(i.e. liking, re-sharing, commenting, posting, and learning) with the targeted ads”.

c) Concede a point: even though the use of social media and targeted advertising

helps in increasing user engagement and the decision-making process, the social

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media companies’ inability to seek consent and transparency fails to support their

conduct in the process

d) Sentence rebutting: despite the positives of targeted advertising, the benefits that

arise from this process do not outweigh the issues such as lack of transparency,

informed consent, and privacy issues that arise from the manner in which the data

is used

e) Sentence providing evidence to support the rebuttal: According to Appel, Grewal,

Hadi, and Stephen (2020) “In line with rising privacy concerns, the way

consumers view brands and social media is becoming increasingly negative.

Consumers are deleting their social media presence, where research has shown

that nearly 40% of digitally connected individuals admitted to deleting at least one

social media account due to fears of their personal data being mishandled”. This

shows that consumers are increasingly becoming aware of the dangers of social

media and this shows that they are becoming more concerned about how their

data are being used by these platforms

f) Therefore despite the positive impact of targeted advertising, the issue of data

privacy and transparency has remained a concern for social media users

IV. Conclusion

a) Summary of strongest reason and evidence: targeted advertising embraced by

social media platforms emanates from the conduct of the social media companies

which includes the violation of the user’s privacy and lack of transparency in the

manner in which the social media data is used

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b) Remind readers: It is important to ensure that privacy, transparency, and other

concerns are addressed which may require changes in policies to ensure that the

personal data has been protected from being misused by the social media

companies.

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Work Cited

Alalwan, A. A. (2018). Investigating the impact of social media advertising features on customer

purchase intention. International journal of information management, 42, 65-77.

Appel, G., Grewal, L., Hadi, R., & Stephen, A. T. (2020). The future of social media in

marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing science, 48(1), 79-95.

Dwivedi, Y. K., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D. L., Carlson, J., Filieri, R., Jacobson, J., … & Wang,

Y. (2021). Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: Perspectives

and research propositions. International journal of information management, 59, 102168.

Isaak, J., & Hanna, M. J. (2018). User data privacy: Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and

privacy protection. Computer, 51(8), 56-59.