AIP Wire Report, New York — Online advertising technology is creating new surveillance risks for journalists and their sources. That is the finding of a new special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The report, “How mass surveillance from online advertising puts journalists at risk,” was written by Jonathan Rozen, CPJ’s Deputy Director of Research and Analysis. CPJ published the report on August 27, 2026. Rozen examines how personal data collected through websites and mobile apps can enter a large commercial data system. That data can include location and other information about users. It can later be collected, sold or analyzed by other companies. The report focuses on the growing connection between online advertising, data brokers and surveillance technology. CPJ warns that data collected for commercial purposes can also become useful for surveillance. This creates a serious concern for journalists. Location data can reveal where a journalist travels. It can also show where a reporter meets other people. That could expose confidential sources or investigative activities. The report examines several technologies involved in this system. They include software development kits, or SDKs, used in mobile applications. It also examines real-time bidding, or RTB, used in online advertising. These systems can allow information about a device and its user to move through advertising networks. CPJ also looks at data brokers and advertising intelligence companies. Some companies offer tools that can collect or analyze location information. The report cites examples showing how extensive this data can be. Belgian journalist Nicolas Baudoux obtained location information about a colleague from a U.S.-based data broker. The data covered two weeks in 2025. The dataset reportedly contained information from about one million devices and around 100 million locations. German journalist Ingo Dachwitz also found information about his own movements in a database sample. Dachwitz had previously allowed a weather application to track his location. The examples show how ordinary online activity can create long-lasting privacy risks. The threat can extend beyond commercial tracking. CPJ also examines the possible use of advertising systems to deliver spyware to specific targets. The technique could use advertising identifiers to identify a device and target it with a malicious advertisement. CPJ describes this as an emerging threat. The report notes that there were no publicly confirmed cases of infection through this particular method at the time of publication. The report also examines the role of artificial intelligence. AI can process very large amounts of information. It can help identify patterns and connections within large datasets. That could make commercial data even more useful for surveillance. For journalists, the implications are significant. Securing email and messaging applications may not be enough. Information about a reporter’s location and movements can create another security risk. The issue also raises broader questions about press freedom. Journalists often depend on confidential sources. Their ability to protect those sources is central to investigative reporting. If commercial data can reveal where journalists go and whom they meet, source protection becomes more difficult. CPJ’s report also raises questions for governments and technology companies. Who should be allowed to collect location data? Who should be allowed to buy it? What legal safeguards should apply? Those questions are becoming more important as commercial data collection expands. The report points to a growing overlap between advertising technology and surveillance. For journalists, that means digital security must go beyond protecting communications. The data created by everyday online activity can also expose reporters and their sources. As data brokers, advertising technology and artificial intelligence become more sophisticated, the risks are likely to receive greater attention from the journalism and press-freedom communities.
Online Advertising Data Creates New Surveillance Risks for Journalists
