The European Parliament is voting in favor of banning certain categories of personalized advertising

Widely used by large technology companies such as Meta, Google and Amazon, the collection and exploitation of sensitive information to serve users personalized ads is about to be banned by the European Parliament.

The new bans in the bill approved with 530 votes in favor, 78 against and 80 abstentions are aimed at banning the use of sensitive information such as race, sexual orientation and religion for advertising purposes. At the same time, service providers will be obliged to easily allow European users to deactivate (opt-out) the collection of sensitive information.

Another victory for the interests of European citizens is the obligation for online platform administrators to address illegal content as soon as possible (eg hate speech) and banned products (counterfeit goods, narcotics), companies that violate these rules risk hefty fines, up to 6% of the amount of revenue generated globally.

The provisions added to the Digital Services Act also include a requirement discussed last month in the European Parliament, aimed at a complete ban on personalized advertising targeting minors.

Yes! with a huge majority, the European Parliament adopted the Digital Services Act. A big win, with support from left to right 💪!
Special thanks to all the colleagues who worked so hard to achieve this result. (cc @SchaldemoseMEP) #DSA #DigitalServicesAct pic.twitter.com/1wiVfCqlw2

– Paul Tang (@paultang) January 20, 2022

Another practice that is about to be banned is the use of so-called “dark patterns” to trick users into accepting the collection of information. Simple but surprisingly effective, the method involves displaying the desired button for the user’s interests in the least visible way (eg black on a gray background) and the attractive presentation of the button to accept the collection of information.

According to Bloomberg, the Digital Services Act will enter the European Council for negotiation on January 31, leaving other obstacles to be overcome until effective implementation.