EACA reacts to the proposed ban on targeted advertising in LIBE

The European Parliament’s civil liberties committee (LIBE) will be voting on compromise amendments and its draft opinion on the Digital Services Act this week. In this context, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have called for a ban on advertising. EACA members are highly alarmed by such call, which call into question existing EU privacy and data protection rules.

EACA therefore reached out to MEPs in the LIBE committee explaining that the impact of such a ban would be disproportionate, not only with regards to its economic but also its social impact. They underline the following points:

• Data-driven advertising is already covered by the existing EU legal framework
• Publishers could no longer subsidise free content for users
• Content and services would move behind jurisdiction walls
• SMEs with smaller markets and less resources would be disproportionately hit
• A ban would negatively impact employment in the ad ecosystem.

Rather than banning targeted advertising altogether, regulators should focus on addressing specific concerns, including by enforcing existing applicable law and encouraging the emergence of new, privacy-protective techniques that can retain the benefits of ads personalisation while enhancing the protection of personal data.

Our full comment can be downloaded here.