X (Twitter) violates GDPR and DSA: Illegal micro-targeting for political advertising
An advertising campaign for planned chat control on X has caught the attention of the EU Commission. Their ads have been targeting and contacting users based on political interests, which is a serious violation of data protection regulations. As a result, a complaint has been filed against X.
In September, data protection organization noyb filed a data protection complaint against the EU Commission about an advertising campaign on X, formerly Twitter, that aimed to promote a controversial chat control measure, i.e. a proposal to monitor all chats and messenger services in the name of the supposed welfare of children.
Moreover, the EU Commission went a step further by targeting only certain users with the ads, using micro-targeting based on specific user data such as religious or political beliefs, which is prohibited under the GDPR. Therefore, noyb has filed a complaint against both the EU Commission and the social media platform itself.
It was found that X collects and stores user data such as political views and religious beliefs, which are then available for evaluation by third parties. Despite its guidelines prohibiting the use of user data for micro-targeting, the platform does not appear to be enforcing this ban or monitoring advertising campaigns. In light of the severity of the infringement, noyb is calling for a fine to be imposed by the data protection authorities.
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