报告题目：Behind Privacy Labels: Data Tracking and Advertising Competition on App Platforms

报告人：清华大学经济管理学院刘登攀 教授

报告时间：2023年11月28日（周二）上午10点

报告地点：主楼317房间

报告内容简介：

Recently, a controversial new privacy policy on the mobile app platform, which requires app developers to display privacy labels and explicitly request data-tracking permissions from users, has sparked a heated discussion among practitioners in digital advertising. In this paper, we build a game-theoretic model to examine how this new policy impacts the key stakeholders of a mobile app platform (i.e., app developers, the platform, and consumers). The model captures how the new policy prompts developers to broaden their strategies beyond mere pricing competition by incorporating data-tracking levels as an additional competitive dimension, which in turn impacts the intensity of price competition among developers. We find that while implementing a policy that restricts developers’ tracking of consumers may lead to an increase in advertising revenue for the platform, it can sometimes put the platform at a disadvantage. This is because it may incentivize developers to lower their prices and engage in more intense price competition, consequently reducing the platform’s commission revenue. Regarding app developers, the new policy may prove beneficial, despite its restriction to tracking only those consumers who have opted in. Another noteworthy finding is that while platforms have asserted that the new policy is aimed at safeguarding consumers’ privacy, it does not always serve consumers’ best interests. Our paper provides meaningful implications for all key stakeholders within the realm of mobile app platforms regarding the implementation of the new privacy policy.

报告人简介：

刘登攀，清华大学经济管理学院管理科学与工程系长聘教授、博士生导师。曾执教于美国爱荷华州立大学商学院并获得终身教职（Tenured）。研究兴趣包括平台经济、电子商务等领域。在Management Science、Information Systems Research、Management Information Systems Quarterly等国际顶尖学术期刊发表多篇论文。现担任国际顶尖学术期刊Production and Operations Management的Senior Editor。

（承办：管理工程系、科研与学术交流中心）