A roadmap to achieving a healthier information ecosystem through GDPR implementation and privacy compliance technologies

Privacy protection has become a central issue in information science, with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) significantly impacting information ecosystems. Research gaps persist in understanding the causal relationship between GDPR implementation and websites' proactive changes, such as adopting privacy compliance technologies. This study aims to examine the influence of GDPR implementation on websites' information ecosystems and identify boundary conditions that may affect this relationship. Utilizing domain-level data from a professional platform tracking website technologies before and after GDPR implementation, which encompasses a comprehensive longitudinal dataset of over 1.2 million websites, our results indicate that GDPR implementation has increased the decision, breadth, depth, and intensity of adopting related technologies. The variance in these adoptions is significantly shaped by the differing levels of institutional impacts experienced by trailblazing versus laggard industries. Our study contributes to the literature by revealing the importance of policy factors in fostering a healthier information ecosystem. We demonstrate the complex nature of the relationship between policy factors and technology adoption, highlighting the need for researchers to consider institutional context and industry-specific characteristics. We further discuss valuable insights for relevant stakeholders.