Ad transparency tools let anyone see who is running which ads and where, and here is how the category works, why native ads were the blind spot, and what separates an open ad library from a $300-a-month spy tool.
Meta and Google run public ad libraries; Taboola, Outbrain and MGID never did, so here is what an open native ad library has to capture, and why that gap sat empty for a decade.
Ad transparency is the practice of making the ads an advertiser runs, and who is behind them, publicly visible through searchable libraries and disclosures.
The Google Ads Transparency Center is Google's free public tool for viewing ads any verified advertiser has run across Search, Display, YouTube, and Gmail.
The Meta Ad Library is Facebook and Instagram's free public database of currently running ads, searchable by advertiser, keyword, and country.
An ad library is a searchable, public database of ads that have run on a platform or network, showing the creative, advertiser, and run details.
