EU advertisement campaign violates bloc’s own privacy regulations
Date
12/16/2024 6:26:06 AM
(MENAFN) The European Commission has been found to have violated its own privacy regulations during an advertising campaign on X (formerly Twitter) in the fall of 2023. The campaign, aimed at promoting a controversial chat control regulation, was criticized for using "political micro-targeting" in violation of EU privacy laws. This practice involved targeting specific Political groups while excluding conservative audiences, based on their interests in certain political keywords like Brexit, Marine Le Pen, and Giorgia Meloni.
The privacy rights organization, noyb (None of Your Business), filed the complaint, claiming that the Commission used sensitive political data without explicit consent, which is prohibited under EU data protection rules. The campaign sought to influence public opinion in the Netherlands, particularly among politically liberal and left-leaning users, regarding the proposed 2022 CSAM (child sexual abuse material) regulation, which had already faced backlash for its potential to mandate mass surveillance by messaging apps.
Noyb's lawyer, Felix Mikolasch, emphasized that targeting users based on their political views for ads is clearly illegal under EU laws. While the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) confirmed the violation, it only issued a reprimand instead of a fine, as the campaign ended shortly after. The EU Commission responded that it did not intend to process sensitive data and stated that X, as the platform, should have ensured the campaign complied with the rules.
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