For many years, Strycharz has been studying how companies collect data. For instance, she examined the effects of the most important privacy law in the Netherlands: the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This law is supposed to protect people, but it appears that many people still do not know what exactly companies do with their data.

What do companies know about you?

'Many people know that companies show you ads based on your gender, age or where you live. But not everyone realises that companies also capitalise on feelings of insecurity, or even insomnia. This makes people extra sensitive to ads without them realising it.'

Expensive taxi in the case of an empty battery

Have you ever noticed that you see advertisements for Just Eat more often when it rains? With bad weather, we are extra susceptible to the temptation to order our food. This may seen fairly innocent, but in America, companies sometimes take an even sneakier approach, Strycharz says. 'At one point, Uber could see how empty your phone's battery was. Uber significantly increased the prices for their taxis for users running low on battery, so that people would book an expensive taxi under time pressure. Fortunately, Uber has since stopped doing this.'

How bad is this?

But how bad is it that companies know a lot about us? Strycharz: 'That's hard to say, because online experiences are different for everyone. Of course, it is also just nice for people to see ads that are well-suited to them.'

But sometimes companies clearly abuse vulnerability. 'At one point, companies could show people targeted ads based on self-assurance. As a result, insecure teenage girls were shown many more advertisements for skin care products.'

Making people more aware

There are actually two routes to ensuring that people become less vulnerable online, Strycharz explains: empowerment and protection. 'Laws like the GDPR in the Netherlands provide that protection. My Veni research focuses more on empowerment: can we make people aware of how companies target them online with advertising?'

How does the research work?

'We combine data donation and information about participants' personality based on interviews and questionnaires. The research project is actually also an awareness campaign. By taking part in the project, people learn how they are targeted by companies themselves. I hope that I will be able automate the research in the end. This will allow us to get even more people to participate and in this way raise awareness.'

Not always bad intentions

Strycharz emphasises that not all organisations intentionally target consumers very specifically. 'I remember a study where five Dutch political parties wanted to target exactly the same broad audience with an ad. For example, 'women in Amsterdam'. Yet those ads ended up with very different people. So that was not down to the choice of the political parties, but simply to the algorithm that nobody really understands, not even Google.’