Cross-Country Examination of People's Experience with Targeted Advertising on Social Media

Social media effectively connects businesses with diverse audiences. However, research related to targeted advertising and social media is rarely done beyond Western contexts. Through an online survey with 412 participants in the United States and three South Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan), we found significant differences in participants' ad preferences, perceptions, and coping behaviors that correlate with individuals' country of origin, culture, religion, and other demographic factors. For instance, Indian and Pakistani participants preferred video ads to those in the US. Participants relying on themselves (horizontal individualism) also expressed more concerns about the security and privacy issues of targeted ads. Muslim participants were more likely to hide ads as a coping strategy than other religious groups. Our findings highlight that people's experiences with targeted advertising are rooted in their national, cultural, and religious backgrounds-an important lesson for the design of ad explanations and settings, user education, and platform governance.