We are pleased to announce that Dr. Carolina Sáez-Linero, Dr.Isabel Rodríguez-de-Dios, and Dr. Mònika Jiménez-Morales have published a new study in the journal Technology in Society. The three authors are members of the CAS Research Group.

The article, titled “Algorithmic personalization and social inequality: young people’s knowledge and perceptions of bias in digital advertising”, examines whether digital advertising literacy is equally distributed among young people and finds that it is not.

Based on an online survey of 1,200 individuals aged 14 to 30 in Catalonia, the study assesses both factual knowledge of how algorithmically personalized advertising works and young people’s perceptions of gender and class-based bias in advertisement delivery. It uses gender identity and a multidimensional socioeconomic index (the IST, developed by the Statistical Institute of Catalonia) as independent variables.

Key findings include:

• Women and participants from higher socioeconomic backgrounds performed better on the factual knowledge test about algorithmic advertising mechanisms, including cross-device tracking, profiling, and the use of personal data for targeted delivery.
• Men from more privileged backgrounds reported higher confidence in their answers, despite accuracy levels being comparable to other groups. This points to an overconfidence effect shaped by the intersection of gender and socioeconomic status.
• Young people generally perceived gender and class biases in ad delivery, associating cryptocurrency and gambling ads with male audiences, and financial education ads with less privileged groups. However, participants from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were less likely to recognize these patterns.
• The correlation between confidence and accuracy was weak, suggesting that feeling informed about algorithmic advertising is not the same as actually understanding how it works.

Knowing how targeted advertising works shouldn’t be a privilege. But right now, it is. This research contributes to growing debates around algorithmic transparency, digital rights, and equitable participation in online environments. By showing that advertising literacy is unevenly distributed and shaped by structural conditions beyond individual traits, the study calls for literacy initiatives that go beyond persuasion awareness to address data tracking, profiling, and algorithmic decision-making, especially among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups where knowledge gaps are most pronounced.

Congratulations to Dr. Carolina Sáez-Linero, Dr. Isabel Rodríguez-de-Dios, and Dr. Mònika Jiménez-Morales on this important contribution to the field!

Reference

Sáez-Linero, C., Rodríguez-de-Dios, I., & Jiménez-Morales, M. (2026). Algorithmic personalization and social inequality: young people’s knowledge and perceptions of bias in digital advertising. Technology in Society, 86, 103287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2026.103287