The Data Protection Authority sends a strong signal to TikTok. The Authority, with an emergency measure adopted on 7 July, warned the platform that it is illegal to use personal data stored on users’ devices to profile them and send them personalized advertising in the absence of explicit consent. The tug-of-war between the Guarantor authority and the Chinese social network continues.
What happened.
The subject of the dispute, this time, is the communication by TikTok to its users that starting from 13 July, people over the age of 18 would have been reached by “personalized” advertising, that is, based on the profiling of the behavior in navigation on TikTok. The communication that took place in recent weeks was preceded by a change in the privacy policy in which, according to the Italian Guarantor, the consent of the interested parties was replaced with “legitimate interests” of TikTok and its partners. The Guarantor had immediately initiated an investigation on the modification of the privacy policy and requested information from the social network. On the basis of the elements provided by the Company, the Authority has now concluded that “this change in the legal basis is incompatible with the European Directive 2002/58 , the so-called “ePrivacy” directive, and with art. 122 of the Code regarding the protection of personal data (which implements it), rules that expressly provide as a legal basis “for the storage of information, or access to information already stored, in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user “Only the consent of the interested parties”.
Concern also for the protection of minors from commercials.
The provision also expresses “concern” for the protection of minors registered on the platform in terms of personalized advertising. The current difficulties shown by TikTok in ascertaining the minimum age for access to the platform – the Authority observed – do not in fact allow to exclude the risk that “personalized” advertising based on legitimate interest reaches the very young, with content that is not appropriate. For now we are at the formal “warning”, but the adoption of any urgent measures has been reserved if TikTok does not withdraw from its purpose.