Charities should treat digital tracking technology just like smoking or alcohol

Charities want to do the right thing, to act ethically. I've worked at health charities who would not accept donations from companies involved with the tobacco or alcohol industry. A children's charity I used to work for turned down a donation from the Archbishop of Canterbury over his poor handling of historical safeguarding issues.

Digital services are a concern now. Google faces antitrust and has monopolised search. Twitter/X has lost millions of accounts because of Elon Musk's antics. Facebook and Meta are also known to break rules, cause harm and now under Zuckerberg's guidance are stopping fact checking.

Yet charities continue to use these products and worse, their tracking cookies and technologies on their own sites, therefore subtly supporting them. They can only get away with this as most of their users are either unaware or resigned to the status quo. 

The use of these technologies gives implied support. Being complicit in this wrong, especially when better, more privacy respecting alternatives exist out there, I don't think there is any excuse.

It's time the third sector chooses to hold the higher ground, as it has done in other areas. It's time to:

• Stop relying on social media
• Stop tracking your supporters online
• Stop supporting the surveillance economy