Google launches ‘misleading’ advertising campaign in Canberra to sway politicians, experts claim

A new Google advertising campaign promoting its privacy settings has been branded ‘misleading’ by experts and an attempt to influence privacy changes in Australia.

Google has been accused of targeting federal politicians with a new advertising campaign designed to win them over as they consider proposals to rein in the power of tech giants in Australia.

And social media and privacy experts branded the advertisements “misleading”, blasting claims that users could “control” the data collected and stored on them by the global internet firm.

The ads, which can be seen in Canberra airport, appeared in the days leading up to final consultation sessions for the Digital Platforms Inquiry that made recommended 23 changes that would impact the way global tech firms operate in Australia.

One billboard in the airport claimed users “control what data gets saved” by Google, and a second said users could “set an expiration data” for their personal information.

But Swinburne University social media major director Belinda Barnet said the claims were “quite misleading” as Google users did not have full control or even full knowledge about what information was collected and stored about them.

Google has been accused of targeting federal politicians with a new advertising campaign. Picture: supplied

“It’s very misleading for them to say ‘you can stop us tracking you’. You can turn off all of those settings and even your Google search history and think you’re safe but Google is one of the largest tracking organisations on the planet,” she said.

“It’s not just on Google properties that they track you — they track you all over the web and that data gets sent back to Google.”

Dr Barnet said changing the settings in your Google account, like location-tracking mentioned in the ad, would only shut down one data point of many collected about individuals by the tech giant.

Lawyer and privacy advocate Travis Schultz said the decision to advertise in the arrivals hall of Canberra airport, where federal politicians regularly travel, was an obvious case of targeted advertising.

“Blind Freddy can see that you choose to put billboards at Canberra airport rather than the main street of Brisbane for a reason,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate that a company like Google could be seeking to influence federal politicians for their own gain. They will tell us they are seeking to educate people and personalise our experience online. In reality, the value of the data we hold is exponentially valuable.”

Swinburne University social media major director Belinda Barnet said Google’s claims on the billboards were “quite misleading”. Picture: LinkedIn

Mr Schultz said the Government should prioritise changes to privacy laws to protect consumers from having personal information harvested by tech firms without checks and balances.

“At the moment, Australians still don’t have a legislated cause of action for data privacy,” he said.

“Without civil protection, you can’t expect corporate behemoths to do the right thing.”

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s 18-month inquiry into digital platforms made 23 recommendations, including changes to the Privacy Act to strengthen consumer consent rules, a privacy code of conduct for digital platforms, and a social media ombudsman for resolving disputes between consumers and tech firms.

Final submissions to the Inquiry are expected to be published shortly, and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the Government would issue its response before the end of the year.

In response to questions about its Canberra ad campaign, a Google spokeswoman said the company was exploring new ways to help Australian users understand its privacy policies and tools.

Originally published as Google launches ‘misleading’ advertising campaign in Canberra to sway politicians, experts claim