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On 12 September 2018, complaints were filed with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office and the Irish Data Protection Commissioner regarding the “wide scale and systemic breaches of the data protection regime” by Google and others in the online advertising industry (the Complaints).

The Complaints

The Complaints were submitted by Brave, an ad blocking web browser, together with the Open Rights Group and Michael Veale, a researcher at University College London. They focus on the real time bidding (RTB) systems used by Google and the wider online advertising industry, which operate to provide personalised advertising on websites.

It is claimed that there are ongoing breaches of applicable data protection laws across the industry. As an example, a wide range of personal data is gathered by the RTB system, far more than is necessary to provide targeted advertisements to individuals browsing the web. It is suggested that the information collected is then provided to a host of third parties for a range of uses that go far beyond those purposes which a data subject can understand, consent to, or object to. According to Brave, “every time a person loads a page on a website that uses programmatic advertising, personal data about them are broadcast to tens – or hundreds – of companies”.Continue Reading Spotlight shone on online advertising as complaints are filed with EU supervisory authorities

Responding to news reports that journalists were able to purchase advertising on Facebook targeted to ethnic groups, Facebook announced several new changes to the company’s advertising products. The move highlights heightened scrutiny of advertising practices surrounding the increasing use of big data in many aspects of marketing and advertising.

Facebook’s response grew out of a ProPublica report published on October 28, 2015 detailing how journalists were able to purchase ads targeted to house hunters on Facebook,, all while excluding specific “Ethnic Affinities,” such as African-American, Asian-American or Hispanic people.  The report raised significant ethical and legal questions on how the features that enable advertisers to target their ads can be misused for discriminatory purposes.  The potential for interactive computer service providers to violate anti-discrimination laws has drawn attention for several years, especially following the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the Roommates decision, which held that the that immunity provided by the Communications Decency Act (CDA) for online operators did not apply to an online service that offered questionnaires and selections to online participants that could facilitate discrimination against protected classes. See Fair Hous. Council v. Roommates.com, LLC, 521 F.3d 1157, 1166 (9th Cir.2008) (en banc).
Continue Reading Facebook Implements Additional Measures to Prevent Discriminatory Practices in Targeted Advertisements