TikTok has agreed to suspend an update scheduled for tomorrow due to controversy over its privacy policy update in Europe, according to foreign media reports. This means the platform will no longer require users to agree to be tracked in order to receive targeted ads.
The EU’s main regulator is examining whether the revisions are in line with the EU’s data protection regulations. Italy’s data protection watchdog issued a formal warning to TikTok yesterday, when the Italian regulator said the planned switch from asking users for consent to run “personalized” ads to claiming that data could be processed on a legal ground known as “legitimate interest” would violate the country’s e-Privacy Directive and, in its view, also violate the European Union’s privacy directive. And in its view, it also violates the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Under EU law, for legitimate interest to be a valid legal basis for processing personal data, a data processor must conduct a series of tests to assess, first, whether it has a legitimate purpose for carrying out the processing; second, whether the processing serves a defined purpose, and a third balancing test that must take into account the rights and freedoms of the individuals whose information will be involved. And the balancing test is probably the biggest obstacle to TikTok’s attempts to leverage legitimate interests to run behavioral ads.
The Italian regulator has notified the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) of TikTok’s potential breach of EU data regulations. a DPC spokesperson said that following yesterday’s contact with it, TikTok has now agreed to suspend the implementation of the changes to allow the DPC to analyze them. It added that the issue has been raised with all other data regulators in the 27 EU member states.
In addition, privacy experts have questioned the appropriateness of TikTok’s practice of placing behavioral ads on the basis of legitimate interests. relevant regulations.”
