TikTok has announced that it is suspending a controversial update to its privacy policy. This notably allowed it to dispense with the consent of its European users to expose them to targeted advertising.
It makes you wonder if TikTok really likes getting into trouble with institutions and countries. Already in the sights and line of sight of the United States for a dirty business of theft of personal data, the gigantic social network has just this time drawn the wrath of the European institutions. The Chinese social network had planned an update on the privacy policy of its customers in Europe. This last notably allowed TikTok to dispense with the consent of its European users to expose them to targeted advertising.
Faced with the controversy that its update has aroused, TikTok has thus been given a big stop by the various European institutions specializing in the defense of privacy.. The social network – through one of its spokespersons – has indicated that it is pausing the update. Time to answer”to questions from stakeholders on these proposed changes to personalized advertising in Europe”.
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TikTok suspends privacy policy update in Europe
Concretely, TikTok wanted to deploy this update for a well-targeted purpose. The Chinese social network wanted to dispense with the consent of its European users to collect their personal data.. The goal was very specific and notably allowed the social network to customize ads as you wishspecifically relying on “legitimate business interests” as a legal basis for imposing targeted ads on users.
But European privacy experts immediately noticed that this change in the conditions of use of the social network posed a problem. And this policy violates, for example, the ePrivacy directive, which the European Parliament voted. Italian regulators even followed suit and also issued a warning to TikTok, stating that this change was not at all compatible with the law that prevailed in the European Union. For instance, the update wanted by TikTok could make it possible to target minors more specifically in its advertising campaigns.
Source: ithome.com