We consider a platform providing free content for users and earning profit from the sale of advertising. The platform can collect and analyze personal data to customize advertisements for individual users. Customization may alleviate users’ aversion to advertising, but it may also raise privacy concerns. Considering the platform as a two-sided market with asymmetric externalities, we investigate the effects of privacy concerns on the platform’s optimal advertising pricing and data collection strategies. We find that it is always beneficial for the platform to collect and analyze personal data. When users attach less concerns on privacy, the price increases with the efficiency of efforts and decreases with the initial nuisance cost of advertisements to users. However, if users attach more concerns on privacy, the price decreases with the efficiency of efforts and increases with the initial nuisance cost of advertisements to users.

我们考虑一个为用户提供免费内容并从广告销售中获利的平台。该平台可以收集和分析个人数据，以针对个人用户定制广告。定制可以减轻用户对广告的厌恶，但也可能引起隐私问题。考虑到平台是具有不对称外部性的双向市场，我们研究了隐私问题对平台最佳广告定价和数据收集策略的影响。我们发现该平台收集和分析个人数据总是有益的。当用户较少关注隐私时，价格会随着工作效率的提高而增加，而随着广告对用户的最初滋扰成本而降低。但是，如果用户对隐私更加关注，