By Lucy Caulkett-
Advertisers, data brokers and several market companies have been exploiting vulnerable people suffering with depression, according to an analysis of ‘depression tests’ and other popular mental health sites.
The finding comes after Privacy International analysed 136 popular mental health web pages in France, Germany and the UK, using the open-source tool webxray. They discovered that 97.78 per cent contained a third-party element like third-party cookies, third-party JavaScript or an image hosted on a third-party server. Their finding was shared with The Eye Of Media.Com after some of our researchers embarked on a collaboration in studying depression and alcoholism both in theory and practise with real life examples.
More than 75% of mental health sites examined contained third-party trackers for marketing purposes. The group found that a number of depression test websites keep records of responses by users provided in the test and share them with third parties in the URL
Analysis of two websites, PasseportSanté and depression.orgz revealed records of test results as variables in the URL, and shared them with all third parties. netdoktor.de, passeportsante.net and doctissimo.fr use programmatic advertising with Real-Time Bidding (RTB) – currently being scrutinized by regulators in the EU. Analysts found that the data being shared included information about the device used, or where a user is located. Shockingly, some depression test websites included granular information about the exact web page people visited and the health conditions they were concerned about.
“When data brokers, advertisers and online tracking companies collect data about our mental health without our knowledge or consent, this is highly intrusive,” the researchers say.
“Information that reveals when exactly someone is feeling low or anxious – especially if combined with other data about their interests and habits – can be misused to target people when they are at their most vulnerable.
The revelation shows the exploitative tactics used by some advertisers to target vulnerable people. Depressed people in many cases have a higher proclivity to sugary and fatty products which the psychologically use to boost their mood. However, it becomes immoral and unethical if advertisers target such people for their products which are very bad for the health. Some members of the research team are planning to propose legislation to stop selfish and manipulative businesses from targeting vulnerable people in this way.
A number of organisations work on alleviating the horrors of depression by helping sufferers overcome their demons and take steps to improve their mental welfare and physical well being. Some sufferers of depression inherit the tendency, but a many have suffered some traumatic experience including bereavement , sexual or domestic abuse, low self esteem , rejection, and other factors. Many depressed people turn to alcohol or drugs or were already slaves to them before the depression set in. Depression drives some victims to suicide in extreme cases, but can be addressed with several mechanisms in place.