ESG

DATA PRIVACY

Taboola is committed to protecting personal data and providing users transparency and control over the use of their data in online advertising. We seek to strictly enforce our privacy and data protection policies, knowing this is important to our partners, clients, users and vendors.

Historically, we have not collected any data that would enable the direct identification of Internet users. As of December 31, 2020, we used only pseudonymous data about Internet users on our platform to manage and execute digital advertising campaigns. We either collect this data directly from users’ devices or it is passed to us by third parties. We provide consumers with notice about our use of cookies and our collection and use of data in connection with the delivery of targeted advertising and allow them to opt-out from the use of data we collect for the delivery of targeted advertising.

We are members of or participants in industry self-regulatory organizations, including the Digital Advertising Alliance, the Digital Advertising Alliance Canada, and the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance. Taboola also adheres to the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, and the IAB Europe OBA Framework. In addition, Taboola is a proud member in good standing of the Network Advertising Initiative, an association dedicated to responsible data collection use in digital advertising, and we adhere to the NAI Code of Conduct for Web and Mobile. Taboola also has partnerships with a number of industry groups, including the Coalition for Better Ads, the Trustworthy Accountability Group and the Future of Privacy Forum.

Our privacy team delivers company-wide privacy training, enforces our privacy policies and is integral to ensuring that we consider the privacy implications in all aspects of our proprietary platform. We regularly review and document our internal privacy policies, amend existing policies as necessary, and enforce these policies with our clients, publisher partners and vendors.

Content Policies

Taboola is a large network helping businesses across the globe by providing content which is relevant, interesting and new to audiences. Taboola is continuously working around the clock to make sure that there is no misleading or inappropriate content running on the Taboola network and to keep it safe for our clients and the audience. In order to provide and ensure a quality and consistent service, we have full-time teams monitoring content uploaded to the Taboola network, to make sure our clients are aligned with Taboola’s Policies.

Our policies are published and available for review on our website.

Advertiser Policy Overview
Publisher Policy Overview

Taboola Trust Center

Taboola is committed to providing our customers, users, and partners full transparency with respect to our services. This Trust Center provides information about the ways that you can control your experience with the Taboola Network and how we ensure compliance with best industry standards.

Learn more about our trust center on our website.

Environmental

Taboola’s environmental impact comes from two main activities — the service Taboola provides on the internet (e.g., reliance on Data Centers) and its office operations. Recognizing the impact of these activities, Taboola takes a proactive approach to reduce its environmental impact.

A. Data Center Energy and Emission Consumption

The environmental impact from Taboola’s energy consumption through the data centers that power its services is managed within Taboola’s Information Technology department and focuses on the following areas:

• Taboola’s recommendation service has a hosting energy footprint. Taboola sets high standards with respect to the use of cooling and energy resources. We work with third-party consultants to evaluate our usage and define ways in which we can improve air flow and cooling needs, which have a direct effect on the amount of energy that we use to provide our service. We are constantly monitoring our energy efficiency. Moving forward this will become one of our key assessment points when renewing our data hosting agreements.
• IT procurement (IT hardware consumption for employees and production). When Taboola purchases hardware we engage with providers who have sustainability policies, use recycled materials to produce their hardware, and have robust recycling programs in place to recycle Taboola’s materials and responsibly close out the lifecycle of the product.
• Lifecycle management of existing hardware. Taboola specifically engages with brands that recycle packaging, use minimal materials in their packaging and have a sustainability program. In terms of the lifecycle of Taboola’s materials, we invest in the safe removal of all of our materials or proper recycling of the product by a third-party.
• SaaS providers. When we engage with a SaaS or cloud provider, we review and ensure that they have a sustainability program in place.

Within these activity areas the need to recycle, manage power consumption, manage energy sources, and consider transportation of physical materials is an important part of how we choose our providers and manage our day to day activities.

B. Environmental Impact of Offices and Travel

While Taboola does not own the office buildings that it occupies, there is a company wide commitment to limiting their environmental impact. Our goal is to lease environmentally friendly office spaces whenever possible: ideally certified LEED or BREEAM. Currently, our Israel and Los Angeles offices are located in a LEED Platinum building properties, our London office is located in a BREEAM certified building, and our New York office building has a building energy efficiency rating of “B” issued by the New York City Buildings Department.

When choosing new office space in the future, the environmental performance of buildings will be a key decision factor for Taboola. To that end, Taboola is committed to prioritizing environmental issues, typically managed by the landlords, such as waste management or heating, into its consideration of its final choice.

1. Energy Consumption at our Offices

When we were in our Taboola workplaces pre-Covid 19, Taboola took steps aimed at reducing the offices’ energy consumption. Five out of our six offices have lighting that is automatically switched off at night or is motion sensored activated.

Air conditioning is also a source of energy consumption that Taboola aims to monitor and control. For example, the air-conditioning systems in all six of our offices are automatically shut off, or significantly reduced during the evening, after normal working hours.

Office waste and related initiatives

Our London office leads by example with a robust “zero waste” initiative and has introduced actions such as the removal of individual non-sorted waste bins, the removal of single-use supplies, including drinking cups, plastic bottles and plastic bags, and the installation of recycling bins throughout the office, signage, or awareness actions related to food waste. We also work together with our vendors to partake in customer care initiatives which are designed to help offset our carbon footprint. For example, our employees are encouraged to provide daily feedback to our food catering company, and a new tree is planted for every five employees that provide feedback on any particular day.

Our other global offices sort and recycle whenever possible, and are equipped with waste recycling bins, including battery recycling. In addition, clear signs for waste classification procedures are on display in our Bangkok, New York, and Los Angeles offices to ensure employee compliance. To limit waste, all of our offices have put measures in place to eliminate paper goods and provide mugs, silverware and dishware instead of disposable paper products. When we return to the office, we intend to strengthen our efforts to emulate those of our London office across the globe.

2. Travel Emissions

Due to Covid-19, remote working has become the norm for all of our employees in 2020 and 2021. Taboola has instituted a business travel freeze. Therefore, business travel and commuting have been greatly reduced, which has had a positive impact on our travel related emissions. We expect for such impacts to continue, as new ways of working become more widespread. In the future, when travel slowly comes back to pre-Covid-19 levels, we intend to consider ways to reduce our carbon footprint.

Social

Taboola’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement

At Taboola, our people are the very fabric of what we do. We will continue striving to welcome, encourage, and empower all people to succeed. This commitment is woven into our mission and vision.

Diversity makes us stronger. It is why Taboola recognizes that employing people with different backgrounds, different skill sets, and different points of view is critical to our success. This fosters a rich, creative environment in which our people develop, and our clients enjoy the innovative work of a diverse team.

We’re committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workforce by recruiting, promoting, and rewarding our people based solely on their ability to contribute to Taboola’s goals without discrimnation against sex, race, disability, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, or marital status.

We strive to improve our workplace through the following commitments:

• Gender Parity
  When reviewing our leadership, including senior executives and board of directors, we found that 11% are women. Between now and 2025, we aim to ensure that 45% of all promotions and new hires, including key leadership roles, will be women and/or racially diverse. We will also conduct a gender pay gap analysis, and use our findings to identify any existing disparities and work to resolve these.
• Diversity
  Our goal is to focus on recruiting more diverse talent, by investing in alternative recruiting methods to reach more diverse talent. We will also invest in our internal recruiting systems, to collect and analyze ethnicity data, and use the results to evaluate where changes must be implemented.
• Education and Development
  We will develop and conduct an unconscious bias training program for all employees. We will also create a space for open conversations about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) discussion, and how we can collectively make Taboola a better place. In addition to the company training programs, we are making further efforts to invest in mentoring and coaching programs for women and diverse talent.
  
  As a part of our commitment around DEI education and awareness, Taboola’s training program aims to provide all participants with the foundation and tools needed to recognize, understand and manage behaviors towards fostering a culture where people with profound differences thrive.
  
  Our foundational DEI training will focus on the following:
  
  DEI 101
  • Defining Diversity, Equity, Equality & Inclusion
  • Mitigation Strategies on How to Manage Uncomfortable Conversations
  • Understanding How to Tie Each Employee’s Role to Inclusion & Belonging
  • Dismantling Bias and Building Inclusivity
  DEI 201
  • Understanding Intersections of Diversity
  • Defining Allyship
  • Unconscious Biases
  • Micro Messages

As part of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts, Taboola has the following employee resource groups:

Employee Resource Groups

Taboola Black:
Taboola Black is an employee resource group for Taboolars who are of African descent. The core mission of Taboola Black is to support Black employees and cultivate Black leadership within Taboola. Taboola Black is also committed to the following:

• Celebrating Culture: Creating moments within Taboola and beyond to celebrate Black culture
• Diversity Recruiting & Outreach: Fostering a strong pipeline of candidates from the African diaspora
• Professional Development & Networking: Producing events and workshops that help push the tech industry forward
• Related blog articles
  • https://blog.taboola.com/interview-with-taboola-blacks-nicole-uvieghara-still-room-for-improvement-in-the-advertising-publishing-industry/
  • https://blog.taboola.com/interview-with-taboola-blacks-founder-nneka-okoli-diversity-in-the-advertising-publishing-industry/

TaboolaBAME Mission:

To provide a community that promotes diversity and inclusion for all employees, with a focus on recruiting, developing, retaining and pushing talent through the pipeline to create more diversity at senior positions.

We as a team want to inspire, support and grow our business through open, honest discussion, project-led action, and by building a hub to offer a greater spectrum of cultural insights.

• Related Blog Articles:
  • https://blog.taboola.com/celebrating-black-history-month-at-taboola/

TaboolHER Mission:

To underscore the value that women bring to our workplace and make Taboola a company where women choose to grow.

• Related blog articles
  • https://blog.taboola.com/recommendher/
  • https://blog.taboola.com/interview-with-shelly-paioff/
  • https://blog.taboola.com/interview-with-cait-rose-gender-equity-in-the-advertising-industry-slow-progress-but-a-long-way-to-go/
  • https://blog.taboola.com/interview-with-garvita-khanna-gender-equity-in-advertising-and-publishing/
  • https://blog.taboola.com/recommendher/ (Note This Blog is from Adam)

TaboolaPRIDE Mission:

To celebrate the vibrant community of LGBTQ+ employees at Taboola and to create a safe space for everyone to bring their whole selves to work. As a team we work to increase the visibility and representation of LGBTQ+ employees through development and recruiting, we work to break down taboos and uncover bias, promote allyship, encourage networking and educate our organization and industry, so that we can all benefit from a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

• Related Blog Articles:
  • https://blog.taboola.com/pride-campaigns-that-gave-back/
  • https://blog.taboola.com/the-goal-of-giving-how-bombas-stuck-to-its-mission-during-covid-19/

Partnerships Charities, Not For Profits and Other Organizations

At Taboola we believe in applying our skills, experience and expertise to be of service to others. Our employees are encouraged to volunteer to help those in need — from people with psychiatric disabilities to children in poor rural areas. We believe it's our responsibility and privilege to give back to our communities.

Taboola New York

In 2018, our New York office launched Taboola Cares, a program for supporting the communities we live in. Taboola Cares was active in a myriad of projects throughout NY and the boroughs during 2018-2019. Taboola Cares was paused due to Covid-19, but the NY office plans to resume Taboola’s participation after the pandemic.

Taboola Israel

During 2020 and 2021, our Israel office has partnered with different organizations in Tel Aviv and the surrounding areas aiming to increase focus on the most impactful projects.

Related Blog Articles:

• https://blog.taboola.com/taboolars-lace-up-for-a-good-cause-sunrise-association/

Taboola & Pitchon Lev:

Pitchon Lev is an apolitical non-profit organization founded in 1998 that works to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty in Israel. The organization assists over 250,000 people each year regardless of sex, religion, race, origin or nationality.

During February 2020, Taboola participated in their Volunteer Days and packed and distributed food baskets for the disenfranchised in the Pitchon Lev center.

Taboola & Yossi’s Farm:

Yossi’s Farm is an organization that rescues, rehabilitates and provides a warm home for animals that have survived situations of abuse, neglect, abandonment, injury etc. In February 2020, Taboola participated in a volunteer project to assist with the care of the animals and provided cleaning and maintenance of the facility.

Taboola & Gorgeous:

“Gorgeous” is a national organization that supports women and at-risk youth by providing them with cosmetics and beauty products. In February 2021, Taboola ran a donation drive and donated cosmetic and beauty products to women and youth at risk.

Taboola & Door2Door:

‘Door to Dor’ is a service for the elderly who are unable to leave their homes due to Covid-19 quarantines and the threat that the COVID-19 outbreak posed to the elderly. In February 2021, Taboola distributed food and needed supplies to the elderly during the week of Purim.

Taboola & Enosh:

Enosh is the largest mental health organization in Israel delivering comprehensive and groundbreaking community-based rehabilitation programs in the domains of supportive housing, employment, and socialization and family counseling centers. Taboola coordinated a virtual knowledge sharing session and led a discussion about the ad tech industry with individuals in the Enosh rehabilitation program.

Taboola & "Operation Grandma":

The Tech and Innovation community launched "Operation Grandma." This initiative aimed to help relieve the elderly of increasing loneliness brought on by the forced isolation of Covid-19. By February 2021, most of Israel’s elderly population had been vaccinated against Covid-19. As part of “Operation Grandma,” Taboola encouraged its employees to take advantage of working from home by working from their grandparents' home. Taboola saw this initiative as a win-win solution;grandparents felt less lonely and employees had built in breaks which consisted of a few coffee breaks during the day with their grandparents.

Taboola & "Educating for Excellence” Project:

Educating for Excellence strives to strengthen Israeli community by reducing socioeconomic disparity and creating equal opportunities for children with potential for excellence who reside within Israel’s social and geographic periphery.

Taboola participated in a virtual volunteer day with teenagers as part of the "Professional Introduction" project in order to expose teenagers to the high-tech world, with an emphasis on Taboola’s business. The aim of this initiative was to provide teens insight into various roles and possibilities within tech companies, using Taboola as an example.

Employees from various departments, such as, Sales, IT, R&D, Marketing, and Human Resources participated. Employees shared their knowledge about their roles at Taboola, and their path to becoming a professional in tech. Another project included virtual sessions with teenagers as part of a Math and English academic marathon for students in 11-12 grades to assist in reducing learning gaps.

Taboola EMEA

Benefacto volunteering programme - London
Taboola partnered with Benefacto from January 2020 until March 2021. Benefacto acted as an introductory platform between those interested in volunteering their time for charitable work and organisations in need of support. 31 Taboolars participated over the above period, volunteering their time to organisations such as The Felix Project, Enfield (a centre providing surplus food to those in need), Core Landscapes (helping to transform vacant land in deprived urban areas into hubs or community engagement) and Wandsworth Food Bank (providing emergency food, support and advice to local people). Our efforts with Benefacto ended when the organisation closed down in March this year.

Age UK’s Telephone Befriending Service - EMEA
The EMEA business is partnering in 2021 with Age UK, which matches volunteers with lonely older people to make weekly 20 minute friendship calls. Over five million older people say that television or pets are their main form of company. So a weekly chat with a friend can make all the difference. It offers our employees a unique opportunity to make a meaningful and lasting impact on the lives of older people, whilst benefiting from making genuine friendships, all without leaving their desks. 30 Taboolars are currently participating in the initiative.

Taboola APAC

The Earth Saviours Foundation
The India team participated in a Taboolathon in October 2020 over a 45 day period. This was a 'walk for wellbeing' initiative designed to get our employees out exercising whilst also raising money for a shared social cause. More than 15,000 kilometers were covered during the Taboolathon and money raised was donated to The Earth Saviours Foundation. The Foundation is dedicated to serving less privileged people and protecting the environment. Their ongoing missions include the creation of homes to house abandoned elderly people and centres to look after disabled individuals.