PayPal has announced that it is creating an ad platform "powered" by the data the payment service giant has from millions of both customers and merchants - specifically, from their transaction information.
The data harvesting here will be on by default, but PayPal users (Venmo is included in the scheme) will be able to opt out of what some critics refer to as yet another example of "financial surveillance." The company's massive business in the first quarter of this year alone amounted to 6.5 transactions processed for 427 million customers.
Sellers are promised that they will, thanks to the new platform, achieve better sales of products and services, while customers are told to expect the ads targeting them to show more "relevant" products.
A press release revealed that to bolster this side of its business, PayPal has appointed two executives - Mark Grether, formerly Uber Advertising VP and general manager, and John Anderson, who was previously head of product and payments at the fintech firm Plaid.
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