Happy Sweet 15, Ghostery!

Protecting User Privacy Through The (Internet) Ages

This month, we’re celebrating 15 years since Ghostery was founded to protect internet users from the dangers of online tracking. Since we started in 2009 we’ve evolved as a company, offering more targeted and seamless anti-tracking and ad blocking products that have been downloaded more than 100 million times and are relied on by more than 7 million active users. 

And it’s more necessary than ever before. In 15 years, the online tracking landscape has grown exponentially. Your data, often gathered without your informed consent, continues to feed the ad ecosystems of big tech players like Google and Meta, as well as to find its way to more nefarious third parties. We place some of our most trusted and sensitive data online today, like information about our health, our political leanings and other deeply personal issues.

That’s why we’re building stronger products than ever before, powered by the most comprehensive open-source tracker database that exists today. As big tech players, ad-tech companies and data brokers find sneakier ways to collect your information and show you ads, we continue to invest in privacy innovations that keep you protected. 

What Is Ghostery?  

Ghostery empowers you to browse the web safer, faster and with less ads. Our most popular product, the Ghostery Tracker & Ad Blocker, uses AI anti-tracking technology to block trackers, ads and popups, making your experience on any browser private, less cluttered, and with faster page loads and lighter data usage. We recently invested heavily to adapt our extension to Manifest V3, so that Chrome users can continue to use Ghostery on the browser for first-class ad blocking and antitracking protection. 

Our Private Browser, which also features Ghostery Private Search, offers a full ecosystem of privacy, with all of our best anti-tracking and ad-blocking technology built in without the need for an extension. 

WhoTracks.Me by Ghostery is your doorway into the web’s largest open-source database of trackers. Illuminating where the ever-growing web of trackers is spreading across the internet and delivering insightful statistical reports, it’s the industry’s one-stop-shop for research and data on the world of tracking. 

We also share insights, privacy news and tips through our biweekly Privacy Digest newsletter. If you’re interested in becoming more educated on your digital health and privacy, it’s the resource for you. 

Where Ghostery Started & How Far We’ve Come

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and reminisce on Ghostery through the years. Like most companies, we’ve evolved since our founding but our mission has always remained the same: fight against online tracking, for a more transparent internet experience for all.  

Birth, Youth, Adulthood – A Timeline

• 2009: Ghostery is born into the world as a solution to rising tracking on the internet.
• 2012: The movement for online privacy begins to gain traction, Ghostery is cited in US congressional meetings seeking to enhance internet privacy.  

• 2014: At SXSW, Edward Snowden, the famed NSA whistleblower, suggests consumers use Ghostery along with other tools to protect their online privacy. What do you think, should we name Snowden our honorary CMO?
• 2017: Modern-day Ghostery is born when we’re bought by Cliqz, a company with privacy at heart and which enhances our technology and capabilities. 

• 2018: Ghostery goes open source. We also win a SXSW Innovation Award for Security & Privacy.

• 2021: Ghostery relocates headquarters from NYC to Munich, a more privacy-forward environment, with favorable regulation like GDPR and frankly, much better beer.

• 2022: Ghostery is cited in a Last Week Tonight with John Oliver episode on data brokers.

• 2024: Ghostery marks the start of our 15th year by democratizing our full privacy suite, offering only free tools along with an optional donation-based Contributor program. Previously paid features are made free for all.

Our Commitment to Online Privacy

What’s guided our work and new products through these 15 years is our unwavering mission to empower users with a private online experience. As a purpose-driven company, this mission is the heart and soul behind everything we do. 

It’s detailed within our Ghostery Manifesto, which explains how we keep the lights on despite offering free products and the private internet future that we’re designing for every day. 

Designing to Meet Our User’s Needs

Over 15 years, the tracking landscape isn’t the only thing that’s changed. How users interact online and our relationship with the internet has changed too. For us, that means we need to design and update our products consistently to meet the average internet user where they are today. As an example, many of our users today use Ghostery to block ads on YouTube, but Google is continuing to adapt their ad infrastructure to make this more difficult. In return, we’re investing and innovating to develop new workarounds and ensure our products and protections are always effective. 

It also means we’re taking a larger role in educating the next generation of internet users, to understand the inherent risks associated with online tracking and the importance of protecting their data. That’s why we’re developing resources like our YouTube and TikTok pages where we include helpful bite-sized videos to better understand online privacy. We also run the Privacy Digest newsletter, our blog, and release research studies like our recent Who’s In the Know Report, and WhoTracks.Me statistical reports. 

Putting Our Community First

We’re often asked by journalists and others how we can continue to operate when we offer free products and don’t participate in the traditional ad-based economy of the internet today. They’re always surprised to hear that our community of Ghostery users is so strong and loyal that they substantially support us in continuing our fight for online privacy. 

It’s rare to have such a close, valued community all working towards a common cause, and today, our community is made up of 7 million monthly active users. Your feedback, your testimonials and your contributions to our work continue to make Ghostery possible. 

Empowering All With Privacy Protection

In taking feedback from our community and striving to design tools that both the average internet user and pros can fully take advantage of, we’ve had a variety of products over the years. Today, they’ve all evolved in one form or another to fit into our Ghostery Privacy Suite. The suite includes our ad and tracker-blocking extension, the Ghostery Private Browser, Private Search, WhoTracks.Me and the Privacy Digest. 

We’ve recently released Ghostery 10, the latest iteration of our extension, to include a heavy redesign geared towards our availability on mobile browsers, as well as compatibility with Manifest V3 for our users looking for a tracker blocker on Chrome. 

Today, Ghostery 10 is available across all main browsers on Windows, MacOS and Linux for desktop. On mobile, we’re available for both Android (enhancing Firefox) as well as  for iOS and iPadOS. We’re excited to offer our full-fledged anti-tracking and ad-blocking capabilities across mobile browsing to uplevel user’s online experience on the mobile devices which we all use so often today.

A Message From Our CEO

What We Envision For the Next 15 Years

To put the scale of online tracking growth into perspective, in 2016 we measured Twitter as having 5 trackers. Today it has 28, and it’s still far from the worst offender out there. As the web of online trackers continues to grow exponentially, the volume of data collected, sold and shared increases too. 

While the threat may be greater than ever before, awareness around online privacy remains sorely lacking. In our journey to empower as many users as possible to protect their data, we have to start at education and awareness.  

We’ll continue to lift the veil on the hidden tracking happening behind the most popular corners of the internet and the dangerous implications. Through statistical reports and content, we’ll put into perspective how online tracking impacts our lives on a larger scale and encourage users to take action. When it comes to our products, that means we’ll also continue to design tools that while powerful, are user-friendly and easy to navigate, no matter your skill level. 

How You Can Help

Being a part of our Ghostery community, you’re playing a role in the fight for online privacy every day. If you haven’t yet, join our Privacy Digest newsletter, and help us spread the word on the importance of online privacy. 

If you’re interested in supporting us further, there are several ways you can contribute to our efforts. Submitting testimonials or writing reviews of our products on the add-on stores of your preference help spread the word about all that we’re doing and build trust so that others can also install Ghostery and protect their data. We also welcome reports of broken pages or any other issues you encounter to support@ghostery.com. If you’re a coder, consider contributing solutions on Github - our open-source code is a team effort! For all, we’re incredibly appreciative of donations (accepted through our Contributor page) or purchases of stylish Ghostery Merch. 

Finally, we’re having a special anniversary celebration on the 28th of September. Join the Privacy Digest email list to get more details. 

And if you’re enjoying reminiscing with us, check out some of Ghostery’s history speaking to leading privacy issues in the media throughout the years:

• WIRED - Ghostery 8 launch and tracker study (2017)
• The Hill - how political forces may influence you online (2018)
•  Axios - how dating websites spy on you (2018)
• CNET - Ghostery goes open source (2018)
•  Fast Company - The Tracker Tax study (2018)
• TechCrunch - Ghostery launches new iOS and Android browsers for Mobile (2018)
•  Politico - Ghostery measures campaign site trackers (2018)
• Gizmodo - Ghostery threatens legal action over Google proposal to remove webRequest API (2019)
•  ZDNet - Ghostery releases ad-blocker performance study, Google backtracks (2019)
• The Verge - Ghostery launches Ghostery Midnight (2019)
• Mashable - updated data websites analysis released (2020)
•  Vox - Ghostery shares work from home privacy tips (2020)
• Good Morning America - Ghostery shares parenting privacy recommendations (2020)
• Forbes - Ghostery releases Tracking the Trackers study 2020 (2020)
• Forbes - Ghostery releases Never Consent feature (2022)
• TechRadar - Ghostery launches contributor program (2022)
• WIRED - Ghostery weighs in on YouTube ad-blocking, advocating for users (2023)
• The Register - Ghostery releases the Privacy Pulse Report (2024)
• TechCrunch - Ghostery prepares to celebrate 15 years of fighting for user privacy (2024)