The regulatory insider

The Authority argues that, because of Apple's privacy policy,  third-party developers and advertisers appear to be disadvantaged in terms of quality and detail of the data made available by Apple regarding the effectiveness of advertising campaigns on their applications. The availability of data relating to both user profiling and measuring the effectiveness of advertising campaigns - while complying with privacy protection regulations - are essential elements for the attractiveness of the advertising spaces sold by app developers and purchased by advertisers. For this reason, according to the Authority, Apple's alleged discriminatory conduct could cause a drop in advertising revenue from third-party advertisers, to the benefit of its commercial division; restrict entry and/or prevent competitors from remaining in the app development and distribution market; benefit their own apps and, consequently, mobile devices and the Apple iOS operating system.

The CULT Committee finalised its own initiative report, led by rapporteur MEP Kammerevert, on the implementation of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). It calls for the potential of co- and self-regulation to be fully used and mentions the fact that online platforms do not provide access to audience data for works distributed by media service providers. The text will voted on in Plenary in the coming weeks.

On the 5th of May, the European Commission will host its fourth technical workshop on the effective implementation of the DMA. It will aim to discuss how to ensure effective compliance with the data-related provisions set out in the Digital Markets Act. This workshop will address issues such as the processing for the purpose of providing online advertising services, combination, and cross-use of personal data by gatekeepers, the use of non-publicly available data of business users and data portability. Registration (in person or online) is possible here.

The new draft law, introduced in Parliament on March 29th,  'marks the next step in the government’s plan to modernise decades-old broadcasting legislation outlined in a white paper last year. In addition, new reforms have been added to protect the position of UK radio on smart speakers as listeners increasingly move away from AM and FM stations in favour of internet-based services. Smart speaker platforms - such as Google and Amazon - will be required by law to ensure access to all licenced UK radio stations, from major national stations to the smallest community stations. Platforms will be banned from charging stations for being hosted on their services or overlaying their own adverts over the top of those stations’ programmes.'

As of April 5th, Meta will be changing legal basis it relies on under the GDPR when processing personal data for the purpose of serving advertising to use 'legitimate interests'. This follows a Decision from the Irish Data Protection Commission which found that Facebook and Instagram cannot use 'contractual necessity' as an appropriate legal basis in this context. 

The European Commission schedules to announce on March 28th its plan to launch a new cookie initiative to be set up by DG JUST. Initial discussions suggest it will include the promotion of voluntary commitments by stakeholders to provide meaningful information in the course of presenting users with a cookie banner. Alternative models to tracking and consent are also being examined. The event will be web streaming.

What is the impact of online advertising on our society?

Renowned US book author Bob Hoffman a.k.a. The Ad Contrarian, will hold a keynote speech on the impact of online advertising on both our democratic elections and he will touch on the topic of AdFraud. According to his newest book, 30% of all online advertisements are never seen by real human beings but are filling the pockets of criminals instead. What needs to be changed to solve this? Register here.

Germany’s agriculture minister has called for a ban on all advertising accessible by children of unhealthy food including sweets and items with a high salt, fat and sugar content, arguing that the future health of Germany’s young people is at stake. According to his plans, junk food advertising “in every medium relevant to children” including television, radio and YouTube and Instagram, should be reduced. In future such advertising should only be broadcast between 11pm and 6am, he said. He stressed he was not in favour of a complete advertising ban, but said: “Advertising should no longer be directed at children.”

IAB Europe confirmed that it has lodged a formal request for interim measures with the Belgian Market Court in the Transparency and Consent (TCF) case. “If the European Court finds that IAB Europe is not a (joint) data controller and/or the TC String is not personal data, the steps taken in the action plan that are premised on these findings – steps that will need to be taken by vendors, CMPs and thousands of publishers, in addition to IAB Europe – will have to be rolled back,” noted Townsend Feehan, IAB Europe CEO.  “Companies will have wasted resources and made changes to their business practices, while consumers will be negatively impacted and misled through multiple adjustments.”

The first beta for Privacy Sandbox on Android was rolled out last week to a limited number of Android 13 devices as part of Google’s initiative to improve privacy and remodel ad tracking. Privacy Sandbox on Android is distinct from Google’s Privacy Sandbox for web, though the two projects share a similar goal.

Advertisers and ad-funded platforms like Facebook have been vocal in their objections to Apple’s app tracking policies, and the Cupertino company now faces antitrust investigations into the issue in two European countries. A new report says that the French Competition Authority has found evidence of anticompetitive behavior by Apple in regard to app tracking, closely following a similar finding in Germany

On April 11th, Google announced an update to Google TV, the CTV platform which powers its newest Chromecast devices and comes embedded into some Sony and TLC smart TVs (as well as being available as a mobile app). Google describes the updates as “a new live TV experience that lets you browse more than 800 free TV channels across multiple providers, organised in one easy-to-use guide right in the Live tab”. The company says that over 800 FAST channels will be available within the live tab in the US.

Rapporteur MEP Verheyen shared her draft report on the EMFA as the first step towards a position from the European Parliament. Amendments drafted on the audience measurement provisions include a proposed definition that would refer to 'users of online platforms that provide media services'. It is unclear whether it only encompasses part of the online platforms' content and services, in which case the scope may be more limited than the position proposed by egta. The deadline for amendments is set on the 5th of May.

This week's media analysis from renown commentator Evan Shapiro looking at TV viewers consumption habits and what drives ad sales.

'On March 15th, IAB Europe  announced that Belgium’s data protection authority, the APD, has suspended its six-month deadline for IAB Europe to rethink its Transparency and Consent Framework, a widely used technical specification for collection and passing user consent through digital advertising supply chains. The announcement means that IAB Europe won’t have to make any immediate changes to the TCF.'

'The French government is set to present a plan to better regulate the commercial work of social media influencers to ensure they, as well as the consumers of their content, are better protected, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told Franceinfo on March 13th. [...]“Influencers must be subject to the same rules as those that apply to traditional media,” Le Maire said, adding the internet “is not the WIld West” and he, therefore, wants to “give a status and reinforce controls” on influencers.'

'Belgium has announced a tough new ban on gambling advertisements, in a bid to tackle gambling addiction and debt. The first steps of the measure will be implemented from 1 July 2023. The ban will extend to gambling advertisements on social media, TV and in sports stadiums.'

Green claims routinely used to sell products, from cars and plane tickets to soft drinks and cleaning fluids, now face much greater scrutiny under proposed new laws – and risk fines of up to tens of millions of pounds for claims found to be unsubstantiated and misleading. Under the digital markets, competition and consumer bill to be unveiled shortly, big companies face the threat of civil penalties of up to 10% of global turnover for breaches of consumer law. Individuals who breach these laws will face fines of up to £300,000. UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has said passing the new bill is a priority for the government.

Barb, the UK industry’s standard for understanding what people watch, has committed to expanding its measurement of audiences to include fit-for-TV content on video-sharing platforms. This decision follows an industry consultation led by Barb in autumn 2022. In November 2021, Barb introduced daily audience reporting for SVOD, AVOD and video-sharing platforms at a service level. In addition, it also began to report programme audiences for shows on the leading pure-play VOD services. Disney+ and Netflix subsequently signed up to join Barb.

As part of its investigation, the Commission found that the four telecom companies 'would not have the ability or the incentive to force TV broadcasters to subscribe to the digital identification services offered by the joint venture given the limited common customer base between these two different products'. In a joint press release, the operators stress that the new found platform has been designed to offer 'consumers a step change in the control, transparency and protection of their data, which is currently collected, distributed and stored at scale by major, non-European players'. More on the project here.

Online platforms had until last Friday midnight to disclose their monthly active recipients of their service in the European Union. The European Commission criticised services that instead of revealing the exact number, only shared whether they were above or below the 45 million users threshold.