In February 2020 the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Shared Data Unit reported high-interest credit card ads were being targeted at people seeking benefits advice on UK local council websites.
We used the open source software webXray to take a snapshot over two days last October of more than 400 council benefits pages.
This found:
- More than half of UK councils had third-party advertising cookies on their benefits pages - a total of 950 cookies (small text files that track people on the internet)
- More than two-thirds of councils did not appear to ask for the correct form of consent under privacy laws
- Examples of targeted adverts on benefits pages seen by the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ included high-interest credit cards, Black Friday deals, sports cars with features for disabled people and private funeral care plans
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said it would assess the findings.
The advertising industry denied using data from vulnerable residents.
This piece of content was produced by a regional newspaper reporter working alongside Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ staff.
The Shared Data Unit makes data journalism available to news organisations across the media industry, as part of a partnership between the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ and the News Media Association. Stories generated by the partnership included:
- Cornish Stuff: 5 February 2020
- The Scotsman: 5 February 2020
- Gedling Eye: 5 February 2020
- MKFM: 5 February 2020
- West Sussex County Times: 6 February 2020
- Daventry Express: 6 February 2020
- Falmouth Packet: 6 February 2020
- Cornwall Live: 6 February 2020
- Bristol Live: 6 February 2020
- Southern Reporter: 6 February 2020
- Leamington Spa: The Courier: 6 February 2020
- Yorkshire Evening Post: 6 February 2020
- Hemel Today: 6 February 2020
- Wigan Today: 7 February 2020
- Devon Live: 7 February 2020
- Epping Forest Guardian: 7 February 2020
- News & Star: 10 February 2020
- Halesowen News: 10 February 2020
- Stourbridge News: 10 February 2020
- North West Evening Mail: 10 February 2020
- Worcester News: 11 February 2020
- Malvern Gazette: 11 February 2020
- Ilford Recorder: 11 February 2020
- St Helens Star: 11 February 2020
- Northern Echo: 13 February 2020
- Wales: Free Press: 13 February 2020
- St Helens: The Reporter: 13 February 2020
- The Westmorland Gazette: 17 February 2020
- Harrogate Advertiser: 17 February 2020
- Scarborough News: 19 February 2020
- Brighton Argus: 19 February 2020
- Portsmouth News: 21 February 2020
The story was also used by Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Sheffield, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Derby, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Cornwall and the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Politix and Chill podcast.
Visualisation
- Bar chart: Percentage of UK councils' benefits pages with third-party advertising cookies (by nation)