2022 | Buch

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Algorithmic Marketing and EU Law on Unfair Commercial Practices

verfasst von: Federico Galli

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Law, Governance and Technology Series

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Über dieses Buch

Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) -Systeme werden zunehmend von Marketingunternehmen in Verbindung mit den Interaktionen der Verbraucher eingesetzt. Dank maschinellem Lernen (ML) und kognitiver Computertechnologien können Unternehmen heute enorme Datenmengen über Verbraucher analysieren, neues Wissen generieren, es zur Optimierung bestimmter Prozesse nutzen und Aufgaben übernehmen, die vorher unmöglich waren. Vor diesem Hintergrund analysiert dieses Buch neue algorithmische Geschäftspraktiken, diskutiert ihre Herausforderungen für Verbraucher und misst derartige Entwicklungen am aktuellen EU-Rechtsrahmen zum Verbraucherschutz. Das Buch verfolgt einen interdisziplinären Ansatz, der auf empirischen Erkenntnissen aus KI-Anwendungen im Marketing und theoretischen Erkenntnissen aus Marketingstudien aufbaut und diese mit normativen Analysen der Privatsphäre und des Verbraucherschutzes in der EU kombiniert. Der Inhalt ist in drei Teile gegliedert. Der erste Teil analysiert das Phänomen der algorithmischen Marketing-Praktiken und überprüft die wichtigsten KI- und KI-bezogenen Technologien, die im Marketing zum Einsatz kommen, z. B. Big Data, ML und NLP. Der zweite Teil beschreibt neue Geschäftspraktiken, darunter die massive Überwachung und Profilierung von Konsumenten, die Personalisierung von Werbung und Angeboten, die Ausnutzung psychologischer und emotionaler Einsichten und den Einsatz menschlicher Schnittstellen, um emotionale Reaktionen auszulösen. Der dritte Teil bietet eine umfassende Analyse der aktuellen EU-Verbraucherschutzgesetze und -Richtlinien im Bereich der Geschäftspraktiken. Sie konzentriert sich auf zwei Hauptkonzepte, ihre Mängel und potenzielle Verfeinerungen: Verletzlichkeit, verstanden als konzeptioneller Maßstab für den Schutz der Verbraucher vor unfairen algorithmischen Praktiken; Manipulation, die wesentliche rechtliche Maßnahme, um die Grenze zwischen fairen und unfairen Praktiken zu ziehen.

Mit KI übersetzt

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Some Preliminary Remarks

Abstract

Consider this very common scenario. A consumer, let us call her Alice, is interested in e-book readers. She searches for “e-readers” on Google and reads about the products on a few websites. While watching YouTube several days later, she sees an e-reader ad. Interested, she visits the company’s website, browsing through the product description and having a few questions answered via live chat. She then reads consumer reviews on a third-party website. Over the next few days, she is frequently exposed to ads about that e-reader while web-surfing. After receiving a coupon by email, she follows the link and places an order. Happy about the product, she describes her user experience on Facebook and posts a few pictures on Instagram. Her friends comment on the posts with interest.

Federico Galli

Introducing Algorithmic Marketing

Frontmatter

Chapter 2. Algorithmic Marketing

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the “algorithmic business” concept. The latter is a socio-technical notion describing the use of intelligent computational processes by business entities which allow making assessments, predictions and decisions about consumers. The phenomenon represents the last stage of the evolution of marketing technologies caused mainly by the increase in consumer data and powerful new applications based on machine learning and cognitive computing to analyse such data and make automated decisions in real-time. The chapter includes an analysis of the historical development, leading technologies, current applications, and new organisational models.

Federico Galli

Algorithmic Marketing Practices

Frontmatter

Chapter 3. Data-Driven Surveillance

Abstract

This chapter describes current information and research marketing practices with AI. More or less covertly, marketers collect, aggregate, and analyse consumers’ data from different offline and online sources and use intelligent algorithmic systems to derive new knowledge about their preferences and behaviours. Consumers know little about how marketers operate with their data, what knowledge is extracted, and with whom this is shared. A new profound asymmetry emerges between consumers and marketers, where power is not only related to the market and contracts but also to the possibility of knowing consumers' lives. Existing privacy and data protection only succeed to a limited extent in limiting surveillance practices and reducing these asymmetries. The main reasons for this are found in the limited effectiveness of the dominant protection paradigm of informed consent and the conceptualisation of information as personal data.

Federico Galli

Chapter 4. Predictive Personalisation

Abstract

This chapter discusses the new modes of interaction with consumers through personalisation. Marketers use algorithmic systems to generate, test and distribute commercial content, products, and website layouts for optimising business measures. While possibly contributing to a more pleasant customer experience and more straightforward choice, these developments fundamentally change business-to-consumer relations in that by adopting a radical behaviourist approach, they subject consumers’ decision-making to an opaque, subtle, and potentially exploitative modulation of digital choice architecture.

Federico Galli

Chapter 5. Empathetic Connection

Abstract

This chapter explores the increased interest in consumers’ emotional private life. Algorithmic systems allow marketing organisations to create new in-depth profiles of consumers’ psychology, measure sentiment in the digital marketplace, and decipher emotional cues during the offline-online customer journey. At the same time, the expansion of language-based interfaces enables marketers to engage in new human-like interactions with consumers, generating a sense of social attachment in consumers while auctioning-o intimate spaces of their lives. This development drives consumers’ surveillance and predictive personalisation into the depths of human emotions and affective lives, which trigger new dynamics of hidden persuasion and social affection in algorithmic marketing.

Federico Galli

Algorithmic Marketing and EU Law on Commercial Practices

Frontmatter

Chapter 6. EU Law on Unfair Commercial Practices

Abstract

This chapter offers an introduction to EU unfair commercial law. The latter is centred around the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, which prohibits commercial practices which, contrary to the requirements of professional diligence, are likely to distort the economic behaviour of the average consumer. The Directive dates back to 2005, has been applied extensively at the EU and national level, and has been—and currently is—the subject of intense debate among consumer lawyers and policy-makers. Its general scope and technology-neutral approach make it especially suitable for developing a discussion on commercial fairness in algorithmic marketing.

Federico Galli

Chapter 7. Digital Vulnerability

Abstract

This chapter explores the notion of consumer vulnerability. Consumer vulnerability is a normative standard aiming at protecting individuals who are particularly susceptible in the marketplace for their characteristics. The analysis will review the notion enshrined in current EU unfair commercial laws and will point out its conceptual limitations. It will then revisit the notion in light of the contemporary discussion on consumer vulnerability and present conceptual elaboration for a new idea of digital vulnerability. The chapter will argue that seeing digital vulnerability as a multi-layered concept is more productive. The fundamental layer applies to all consumers, given the inherent risks of harm that potentially arise directly from the functioning of algorithmic marketing. At the same time, the likelihood of consumers suffering actual harm depends on how many additional layers of vulnerability they may suffer from, depending on their personal characteristics, situations, and ability to affirm their privacy.

Federico Galli

Chapter 8. Algorithmic Manipulation

Abstract

This chapter analyses the rules governing commercial practices, which are supposed to prevent undue forms of manipulation of consumer choices. The regulation of manipulation stems from the value the EU places on the autonomy of consumers as market actors who must be able to make informed choices. For this reason, the UCPD puts much emphasis on information and preventing deception. The focus on other forms of manipulation based on undue influence and exploitation of vulnerabilities is more limited. Based on this framework, the chapter analyses where and to what extent the regulation of algorithmic manipulation can be legally framed. Different substantive standards of protection, such as undue influence, and digital aggression, will be discussed and revised in the light of the empirical findings in the context of algorithmic marketing practices.

Federico Galli

Chapter 9. EU Law on Fair Trading 2.0: A New Hope

Abstract

In 1999, Steven Spielberg was working on a new movie, an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s short story The Minority Report. Although the story was science fiction, set in an undated time in the future, Spielberg wanted the film’s details to be realistic. The director did not want an over-the-top dystopian fantasy but a plausible vision of what might come to pass in 50 years. For help in bringing this vision to life, Spielberg convened a group of technology experts and asked for their predictions. At the centre of their discussion was marketing. They predicted a world where marketing and advertising had become more personalized, persuasive, and effective. Spielberg used their insights in the film, describing a future where advertising doubles as a surveillance tool, helping to keep citizens under the thumb of shadowy bureaucratic overlords. Paradigmatic is the scene where the main character, John Anderton (played by Tom Cruise), walks through a shopping mall and is bombarded by advertising, calling him by name, implying that they were explicitly addressed at him. Anderton’s attention is captured by advertising for Lexus and Guinness, presumably because he has indicated an interest in buying those brands or because he is a man and is wearing an expensive jacket—it is up to us to fill in the gaps. Anderton is then shown an American Express announcement recognizing that he is an existing member by simply scanning his eyes as he passes by.

Federico Galli

Titel: Algorithmic Marketing and EU Law on Unfair Commercial Practices
verfasst von: Federico Galli
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-13603-0
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-13602-3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13603-0