EU's promotional campaign violated its own privacy regulations
The EU's advertising campaign on the social media platform X has breached its own privacy regulations. Read Full Article at RT.com.
TroibNews 
**Campaign Aimed to "Flip" Public Opinion on Controversial Measure for Addressing Child Abuse Material**
The European Commission’s data protection oversight body has determined that an advertising campaign conducted by the bloc on X in the fall of 2023 violated privacy regulations. The regional privacy rights nonprofit noyb, which filed the complaint, stated that the campaign unlawfully employed “political micro-targeting.”
Noyb pointed out that the Commission's strategy involved the use of “proxy data” to reach specific demographics while intentionally excluding conservative audiences. This targeting was directed towards users who showed no interest in keywords such as Qatargate, Brexit, Marine Le Pen, Alternative für Deutschland, Vox, Christian, Christian-phobia, or Giorgia Meloni. The nonprofit emphasized that this targeted data contained sensitive political opinions without explicit consent, which is prohibited under EU regulations.
In a statement released on Friday, noyb explained that the European Commission sought to influence public opinion and “indirectly promote” a contentious chat control regulation proposal among users in the Netherlands. The Commission specifically aimed at politically liberal and left-leaning audiences on X to “flip” public sentiment regarding the proposal.
The 2022 draft law concerning child sexual abuse material (CSAM) has faced backlash from digital rights activists due to concerns that it could compel messaging applications to conduct extensive surveillance to detect and report child abuse material. Reports indicate that the EU Council temporarily postponed voting on this legislation in June.
“Using political preferences for ads is clearly illegal,” remarked noyb’s data protection lawyer Felix Mikolasch, who noted that numerous political entities exploit such strategies, while online platforms often fail to address these practices effectively.
Noyb reported that the European Data Protection Supervisor confirmed the EU's unlawful actions but only issued a reprimand without imposing penalties, as the campaign had already stopped.
The EU had previously asserted to tech outlet TechCrunch that X bore responsibility for implementing the campaign according to established rules. The EU also clarified that it “did not intend to trigger the processing of special categories of personal data.”
“We take note of the [EDPS] decision on the Commission’s campaign to raise awareness about the Commission’s legislative proposal to prevent and combat child sexual abuse material online. We will now assess the EDPS decision,” said Commission Spokesperson Patricia Poropat in a statement to TechCrunch.
Aarav Patel for TROIB News
The European Commission’s data protection oversight body has determined that an advertising campaign conducted by the bloc on X in the fall of 2023 violated privacy regulations. The regional privacy rights nonprofit noyb, which filed the complaint, stated that the campaign unlawfully employed “political micro-targeting.”
Noyb pointed out that the Commission's strategy involved the use of “proxy data” to reach specific demographics while intentionally excluding conservative audiences. This targeting was directed towards users who showed no interest in keywords such as Qatargate, Brexit, Marine Le Pen, Alternative für Deutschland, Vox, Christian, Christian-phobia, or Giorgia Meloni. The nonprofit emphasized that this targeted data contained sensitive political opinions without explicit consent, which is prohibited under EU regulations.
In a statement released on Friday, noyb explained that the European Commission sought to influence public opinion and “indirectly promote” a contentious chat control regulation proposal among users in the Netherlands. The Commission specifically aimed at politically liberal and left-leaning audiences on X to “flip” public sentiment regarding the proposal.
The 2022 draft law concerning child sexual abuse material (CSAM) has faced backlash from digital rights activists due to concerns that it could compel messaging applications to conduct extensive surveillance to detect and report child abuse material. Reports indicate that the EU Council temporarily postponed voting on this legislation in June.
“Using political preferences for ads is clearly illegal,” remarked noyb’s data protection lawyer Felix Mikolasch, who noted that numerous political entities exploit such strategies, while online platforms often fail to address these practices effectively.
Noyb reported that the European Data Protection Supervisor confirmed the EU's unlawful actions but only issued a reprimand without imposing penalties, as the campaign had already stopped.
The EU had previously asserted to tech outlet TechCrunch that X bore responsibility for implementing the campaign according to established rules. The EU also clarified that it “did not intend to trigger the processing of special categories of personal data.”
“We take note of the [EDPS] decision on the Commission’s campaign to raise awareness about the Commission’s legislative proposal to prevent and combat child sexual abuse material online. We will now assess the EDPS decision,” said Commission Spokesperson Patricia Poropat in a statement to TechCrunch.
Aarav Patel for TROIB News
