Today, the European Parliament has adopted its position on the planned Digital Services Act (DSA).
This planned EU law aims to regulate key aspects of digital technologies, particularly the dominance of certain gatekeeper companies.
One key last-minute change to the Parliament’s position was the inclusion of several amendments restricting tracking-based ads. Specifically, the Parliament seeks to ban targeted advertising for minors, and limit the extent to which sensitive personal data – among which data revealing one’s religious and political beliefs – can be used in ad targeting.
These amendments on ad targeting were put forward by the Tracking-Free Ads Coalition, of which my TrackerControl app is a supporter.
The European Commission, Council and Parliament will now enter the trilogue stage of negotiations to reach a compromise between their positions. A compromise could already be reached by early spring.