The social network X.com must undergo a new attack, with a complaint filed by an Austrian association.
When you follow the news on X, formerly Twitter, it is not uncommon to come across the announcement of a new complaint or an investigation, especially on the old Continent. And once again, it is here that the platform owned by Elon Musk is attacked. An Austrian association called NOYB (None of Your Business), which works in the field of privacy protection, accuses X of illegally targeting people.
A problem with illegal advertising microtargeting
In general, the rules that we lay down must first be applied by ourselves. This is what the NOYB association will surely argue in court, against X.com. Because she accuses the network of using “ illegally the political ideas and religious beliefs of its users for targeted advertising. »
A practice prohibited… by the rules of use of the platform! NOYB notes as well as “ In reality, it seems that X does not apply this prohibition at all, which makes it lose all meaning. » But the social network should not be the only entity to find itself in the accused’s seat in this case.
European Commission breaches DSA
Because if X.com illegally provides the service, the person using it is nothing less than… the European Commission! Indeed, according to an October investigation by the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant, The European Commission has carried out a communication campaign promoting its initiatives against child pornography content, by specifically excluding people viewing populist, Eurosceptic, privacy or Christianity content.
However, this same European Commission is at the origin of the famous Digital Services Act regulation, the provisions of which prohibit advertising targeting based on certain sensitive characteristics such as ethnicity, religion or political beliefs. An unfortunate mix of genres as Brussels struggles to impose its DSA, to the point that Internal Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson had to admit “ questions. »
Since then, the EU has suspended all its advertising campaigns on X, while the NOYB association also filed a complaint with the European Data Protection Supervisor on November 16 against the European executive.
Source : Incyber, The world
4