Seven Behavioral Ad Companies Called Out

Seven companies from the online data targeting world were urged to modify the way they inform consumers and enable them to opt-out of behavioral ads in order to conform to best practices outlined by the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council.

As a result, BlueCava, Turn, DataXu, Oxamedia, Gravity and Rovion have all taken action to address concerns raised by the council based on multiple investigations -- concerns related to consumer disclosures, opting out across devices, and the effectiveness and duration of opt-out mechanisms. That's despite Gravity and Rovion's contention that neither company actually participates in behavioral targeting. Oxamedia was unaware of the ASRC principles, but still agreed to make changes to become compliant, said officials. A seventh company that also claimed it does not engage in online behavioral advertising, Facilitate Digital Holdings, agreed to change its opt-out cookie’s duration to the industry standard of five years, but has not yet done so, according to the ASRC.