The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament presented on Tuesday 12 October a study on the future of online advertising and the targeting of users through the collection and use of personal data.
The authors of the study, commissioned by Parliament’s Green family, believe that banning targeted online advertising using Internet users’ personal data would have “positive effects” on “the rights of individuals, the fight against the proliferation of disinformation, and the fight against fraud”.
In addition to users, publishers could also benefit from the ban and enjoy a “more level playing field”, the study’s authors say.
At present, tracking-based advertising provides a return per euro spent on advertising of about 30%. This share rises to 85% for ‘contextual’ advertising, which is based on keywords from an online search, they argue.
“This means that, even if there were a drop in the volume or price of advertising, the amount in the publisher’s pocket could remain static”, the study says.
It remains to be seen how the debate on this issue will turn out in the European Parliament. On 27 September, MEPs on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) made clear their differences on the issue (see EUROPE 12800/7).
“Some groups are for the ban, the EPP is strongly against, getting a majority is uncertain, but it has become an important issue, which was not the case before”, concluded Alexandra Geese (Greens/EFA, Germany).
See the study: https://bit.ly/3auHhax (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)