Italian authority says TikTok’s ‘personalized ads’ change could target children
TikTok Italian authorities have responded to TikTok’s next batch of proposed changes coming into effect on July 13, urging them to reconsider their approach to personalized adverts.
The Italian SA has sent a clear message to the developers of the popular video-sharing application, warning them that “explicit consent” would be needed for the tweak to be in line with European Union law.
These changes will affect users across the EU, United Kingdom, and Switzerland.
TikTok to change personalized ads on July 13
An explainer article on their website says: “TikTok is making a legal change to how it will use your on-TikTok activity to personalize your ads…
“Historically, TikTok asked you for your “consent” to use your on-TikTok activity and off-TikTok activity to serve you personalized ads. From 13 July 2022 TikTok will rely on its “legitimate interests” as its legal basis to use on-TikTok activity to personalize the ads of users who are 18 or over.”
Here’s how the policy change will affect TikTok users.TikTok has been notifying users over the age of 18 about upcoming changes to the privacy policy, though the legality of the decision is under question.
Italy responds to TikTok privacy changes
In an official statement, the Italian authority said: “In addition to the inadequate legal basis, an issue was of special concern to the Italian SA as related to the protection of child users that are registered with the platform.
“According to the Italian SA, the difficulties currently encountered by TikTok in order to establish compliance with the age requirements to access the platform do not allow ruling out the risk that ‘personalized’ ads including unsuitable content will be served to very young users based on the company’s legitimate interest.”
The statement was posted to the GPDP website – the Italian Data Protection Authority.
It also said: “Therefore, the Italian SA relied on the powers conferred on it by the GDPR and sent a formal ‘warning’ to TikTok that processing data on the basis of its ‘legitimate interest’ would be in conflict with the current regulatory framework, at least with regard to the information stored in users’ devices, and would entail all the relevant consequences also in terms of corrective measures and fines.”
This is how it will affect those who just turned 18.Previously, TikTok had assured those under 18 years old that the changes will not affect them – though they can give their consent for personalized ads.
When they do eventually turn 18, a number of other effects will kick into gear. As seen above, these will depend on whether the user has previously given consent to use their activity to serve personalized ads.
Whether this warning from Italy’s authorities will have any effect on the implementation of TikTok’s proposed changes, or its timeline for rollout, remains to be seen.