Instagram and Facebook: Norway bans personalized advertising
Norway has banned personalized ads on Instagram and Facebook. The reason: persistent violations of EU law. The ban is scheduled to come into force at the beginning of August 2023 and will initially apply for three months.
The Norwegian data protection authority Datatilsynet has imposed a ban on personalized advertising on Instagram and Facebook. That shared the organization in one official statement with. Accordingly, the ban should come into force on August 4, 2023 and will initially apply for three months.
According to data protection officials, the reason for the decision is ongoing violations of EU law. In the meantime, Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta should be given the opportunity to adapt its services in order to rule out further infringements.
Norway bans personalized advertising on Instagram and Facebook
The ban applies again for three months or until the company can prove that it is complying with the legal provisions. If Meta does not comply with the decision, the company faces a fine of the equivalent of 88,510.97 euros per day.
Background: Meta tracks the activities of its users on Instagram and Facebook to collect data. Based on information such as interests and whereabouts, the company creates profiles in order to place personalized advertising.
Meta advertising ban: Norway forestalls Irish data protection authority
Already in December 2022, the Irish data protection authority DPC, which is responsible for Meta within the European Economic Area, declared this practice of data collection and personalized advertising to be illegal. The US group has made some changes since then, but shared the European Court (ECJ) in early July 2023 that Meta was still not acting in accordance with the law.
The Norwegian data protection authority has therefore now reacted with a ban. In doing so, she is anticipating the Irish authorities, as they have not yet enforced her decision against Meta. However, neither the EU nor Norway want to ban personalized advertising per se.
For example, Meta is free to collect information such as gender, age or place of residence for marketing purposes. However, data collection and personalized advertising based on interests and whereabouts is not in line with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Also interesting:
