Google’s newest Chrome extension shows you the number of advertisements on a webpage, along with whatever personal data (such as location or interests) advertisers use to target you. The extension, called “Ads Transparency Spotlight,” is available as a functional Alpha now.
The Ads Transparency Spotlight is part of a broad push for ethical advertising. It utilizes Google’s new Ad Disclosure Schema, a uniform system that lets advertisers explain why you’re seeing their ads. Google is the only company to implement the Ad Disclosure Schema, but other advertisers are encouraged to use the system.
Our new Ads Transparency Spotlight (Alpha) extension for Chrome is part of our ongoing initiative to give people more visibility into the data used to personalize ads and more control over that data.
Of course, the Ads Transparency Spotlight tool only shows works when advertisers cooperate with the Ad Disclosure Schema. It won’t show you as many ads and trackers as Ghostery or Privacy Badger, which show you every ad and tracker on a webpage and give you the option to block unwanted content.
Ads Transparency Spotlight is available from the Chrome Web Store. After downloading it, an Ads Transparency icon will appear next to your Chrome browser’s search bar. Pressing the icon opens a flyout window where you can investigate the ads on a page.