Nine civil society organisations, including EDRi, have lodged a formal complaint with the EU and national authorities about X’s use of sensitive personal user data for targeted advertising.
According to an investigation carried out by the AI Forensics organisation, the platform found that “major brands as well as public and financial institutions engaged in targeted online advertising based on what appear to be special categories of personal data, protected by Article 9 of the GDPR, such as political opinions, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and health conditions”.
This “opens the door for a myriad of abuses at scale, including interest groups trying to influence public opinion in ways that can threaten online civic discourse and undermine the democratic process. Regardless of intent, this type of targeting is, in our view, incompatible with the DSA”, state the signatories of the complaint, who are asking the European Commission to open an investigation (see EUROPE 13316/10).
The AI Forensics investigation revealed a Shein advertising campaign targeting users who had interacted with keywords linked to French politics, a TotalEnergies campaign excluding users who had used keywords linked to ecologist politicians, and a McDonald’s campaign excluding users who had used keywords linked to the McDonald’s trade union as well as antidepressants and suicide.
To see the joint press release: https://aeur.eu/f/hwo (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)