Privacy

Belgian court rejects ad tracking consent model

Internet pivacy

A Belgian appeals court has ruled that tracking-based advertising models violate European privacy laws, marking a significant setback for big tech firms that rely on user profiling, The Record reports.

The Brussels Court of Appeal found the widely used Transparency and Consent Framework incompatible with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, according to Amnesty International. This decision directly challenges the real-time bidding model, which shares user data with numerous companies for targeted ad placement as people browse online. Amnestys Hannah Storey called it a "massive privacy breach" and urged a shift toward rights-respecting ad models. The ruling affects major players like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and X, whose consent pop-ups were deemed inadequate in protecting user privacy. Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal report highlighted mounting fraud in digital advertising, particularly within Metas platforms, where internal assessments revealed that a majority of new advertisers promoted scams or illegal content. Together, these developments underscore growing scrutiny over surveillance-based advertising practices.

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