Evaluating social media user trade-off between free platform use and privacy concerns of AI-powered targeted advertising

Abstract In today’s digital environment, social media platforms offer many free services that have become integral to users’ daily lives. However, there are serious privacy concerns associated with this convenience, especially given how artificial intelligence (AI) is being incorporated into user data management. This study explores the social and ethical dimensions of the trade-off between the benefits of free platform use and the privacy concerns emerging from AI-powered targeted advertising. Users are generally more concerned about how AI algorithms use their data for advertising and personalization than they are about the collection of their data. AI technologies have significant issues with surveillance, behavioral profiling, and data commodification, even though they improve user experience through personalization. The study presented is thorough literature-based research that explores user knowledge gaps and perceptions of risk and awareness of AI-based features in the use of social media. It has been discovered that there has been an increase in attention to data collection, but a lack of knowledge about the AI mechanisms, thus leading to an overall problem of the so-called privacy paradox, in which continued use is promoted despite the lack of trust in it. The study suggests the proposed framework model of the study to guide the evaluation of the user attitudes and intentions. These lessons are meant to help social media companies; policy initiators and digital rights activists understand how to strike a balance between technological advances and strong privacy safeguards. Study phases that will be applied later will consist of a Delphi-based qualitative analysis of the internet privacy experts.