Mozilla and CheckFirst: Apple, Google, Meta, and others' ad transparency efforts are a work in progress, months after the EU's DSA mandated a searchable library
Efforts by tech giants to be more transparent about the ads they run are — at very best — still a work in progress …
Context & Ripple Effects
The DSA turned ad-library access from a voluntary transparency feature into a platform obligation. Google had already outlined an expansion of its Ads Transparency Center for EU requirements, including more targeting information and researcher access.
This report matters because it tests implementation rather than commitments: Mozilla and CheckFirst find the searchable-library effort across major platforms remains unfinished. That arrives amid broader scrutiny of how large platforms are complying with EU digital rules, including formal DMA investigations involving Apple, Google, and Meta.
First-order effects
- Apple, Google, Meta, and other covered companies face pressure to close gaps in searchable ad-library functionality and the information those libraries expose.
- Researchers, watchdogs, and the public have less dependable visibility into platform advertising while the required transparency tools remain incomplete.
Second-order effects
- Platforms may need to devote more product, data-governance, and compliance resources to making ad archives searchable and usable, not merely available.
- Uneven implementation can make cross-platform analysis harder, limiting the comparability of ad data that researchers expected from a common regulatory requirement.
Third-order effects
- If enforcement focuses on whether ad libraries are practically usable, EU platform compliance will increasingly be judged by auditability and data access rather than policy announcements.
- The episode points to a broader shift toward operational transparency mandates: requirements can standardize disclosure in principle, but their value depends on consistent implementation and oversight.
The trend: EU digital regulation is pushing major platforms from voluntary transparency pledges toward tools that regulators and outside researchers can inspect in practice.