TikTok no longer wants to ask users for consent to serve them personalized ads. But regulators are forcing the social network not to implement its new privacy policy.
TikTok has just paused its policy change regarding personalized ads. For now, user consent will still be required to offer them. The social network is thus changing its initial plan which was to allow from July 13 to offer personalized advertising, based on user data, according to its “legitimate interests”, as shown in the capture below:
The term “legitimate interests” therefore allows TikTok to use user data to offer them advertisements without the need for their consent, as long as this serves the interests of the social network.
But that was counted without the privacy experts who immediately detected that this change in the conditions of use of the social network posed a problem. Indeed, this policy violates the ePrivacy directive voted by the European Parliament. They were followed by Italian regulators who issued a warning to TikTok, stating that the change was incompatible with the directive and with the law that flowed from it in the European Union. In addition, it could allow TikTok to specifically target minors in its advertising campaigns.
In the European Union, the processing of personal data based on a legitimate interest is only legally valid if three conditions are met:
It is this third condition that will pose a problem for TikTok to implement its new policy.
The social network has obviously taken the message into account and has put its policy change on hold, while the Data Protection Commission (DPC) analyzes the situation. This Irish regulator, equivalent to the CNIL in France, has the role of enforcing the GDPR for tech giants on European territory. A TikTok spokesperson said:
We believe personalized advertising provides the best in-app experience for our community and brings us into line with industry practices, and we look forward to engaging with stakeholders and addressing their concerns.
In short, the social network does not intend to drop the case, but does not want to be fined either. We will have to wait for the results of the DPC to see if the situation will change for users.
Source :
TechCrunch