European Parliament approves initial proposal to ban some targeted ads

The image is by Alex Castro.

The initial draft of a bill that aims to curb Big Tech's intrusive advertising practices was approved by the European Parliament on Thursday. The draft was adopted with 530 votes of approval, 78 against and 80 absentations.

The Digital Services Act will prevent platforms from using sensitive information, such as sexual orientation, race, and religion, for targeted ads. It will require services to give users the ability to easily opt out of tracking, and it will require platforms to remove illegal content and products online.

The Digital Services Act was adopted by the European Parliament with a huge majority. There was support from left to right.

The Parliament agreed on two rules last month, including a ban on both targeted ads for children and dark patterns, a practice that some platforms use to trick users into agreeing to share their data. Any company that violates these policies could be fined up to six percent of its global revenue.

The Digital Services Act has more hurdles to overcome, and negotiations with the European Council start on January 31st. The Democrats in the US introduced a bill last week that would ban targeted advertising.