The digital advertising watchdog welcomes Aleksandre Zardiashvili (alias Lex Zard) to lead digital advertising policy reform.
Brussels, BE – Check My Ads, the digital advertising watchdog, is proud to announce that Dr. Aleksandre Zardiashvili (alias Lex Zard), one of Europe’s rising visionary thinkers on digital governance, has joined the organization as its new Director of Policy. A fierce legal scholar, Dr. Zard is determined to help build a fair, safe, people-first online environment. He brings a rare blend of academic rigour, policy experience, and clarity about the consequences of allowing the online environment to be governed by perverse incentives, and opaque, unaccountable systems. As Director of Policy, Lex will drive Check My Ads’ strategy in Europe, spearheading engagement with policymakers and civil society.
Lex earned his PhD from Leiden University where he also worked as a researcher and teacher. In 2024, he defended his dissertation, “Power & Dignity: The Ends of Online Behavioural Advertising in the European Union.” His research dissects the structural incentives of the advertising-funded web, and argues that robust enforcement of Europe’s digital rulebook — in particular, the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act — is essential to restore user dignity and curb the abusive power of dominant platforms.
He recently served as a Technology & Human Rights Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights Policy, where he worked with Professor Shoshana Zuboff on the relationship between surveillance capitalism, online advertising, and democracy. In parallel, Lex partnered with digital rights agency AWO, where he co-authored a study commissioned by the European Commission, examining online advertising at the crossroads of different regulatory frameworks. Zard’s work has also taken him to Canada, where he was selected as a Balsillie Scholar at Balsillie School of International Affairs, deepening his research about browser-based online advertising solutions such as Google’s Privacy Sandbox.
“Lex is one of the clearest, sharpest minds in digital policy today,” said Arielle Garcia, Chief Operating Officer of Check My Ads. “His work cuts through industry narratives and exposes the structural harms that the broken digital advertising system imposes on users, publishers, and democratic institutions, and he does it with conceptual precision that policymakers urgently need. His expertise will supercharge our ability to confront big tech dominance and adtech abuse at a critical moment where lawmakers around the world recognize the need for urgent action.”
He joins Check My Ads as the organisation undertakes a strategic expansion in Europe. “Lex’s work demonstrates what we see every day: tech companies operate in the dark to get away with unfair business practices,” said Claire Atkin, CEO of Check My Ads. “But, we don’t have to live with it. Lex is a leading expert in uncovering practices the industry wants to keep hidden. The adtech industry is operating exactly as designed, siphoning value from brands, publishers, and all of us. He has a clear vision for the policy solutions required to make the internet more fair for everyone. We are thrilled to have him join our mission, and accelerate our policy advocacy in Europe.”
Before entering academia, Lex worked in the National Bank of Georgia’s Anti-Money Laundering Department, leading inspections of financial institutions — an experience that shaped his instinct to “follow the money” and uncover hidden systems of power.
“I am genuinely thrilled to join Check My Ads. It is a rare organisation that combines deep technical understanding with a strong policy foundation, allowing the team to confront the industry’s structural problems head-on,” says Lex Zard. “I have followed the team’s brilliant work for years, and I’m excited to contribute from the inside.”
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About Check My Ads Institute
Check My Ads Institute, the digital advertising watchdog, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit established in 2021 to build a better internet business model for advertisers, publishers and people. We shine a light on the opaque global advertising technology industry, which has enabled systemic manipulation and fraud, through unfettered access to its vast infrastructure: ads, advertiser budgets and our own intimate personal information. The unregulated transfer of power takes place largely outside the view of advertisers, regulators, and citizens. Check My Ads is pushing for accountability in the digital advertising industry through consumer-informed, free-market solutions and common-sense state, federal, and international regulation. We believe that advertisers and the public deserve transparency and choice.