Digital collection of data using cookies, to create profiles of people for targeted advertising, must stop immediately. Publishers and advertisers who ignore this prohibition face penalties from the Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP).
The Dutch privacy guard is in line with this threat with its Belgian counterpart, which recently declared the IAB Europe cookie placement system illegal. It would not be transparent and give consumers insufficient control over what happens to their personal data.
Advertising organization IAB Europe in Brussels is the leading force behind TCF, a system to obtain permission from web surfers to record their interests and online behavior. In Europe, this is the most widely used system for profiling web users. Of the tens of billions of euros that European publishers convert to advertising banners, about 80 percent finds its way to consumers via TCF. Users include Nu.nl and AD.nl from DPG Media, Telegraaf.nl from Mediahuis and RTL sites.
Offence
All European regulators have already sided with the Belgian opinion. IAB Europe has been given two months to adapt its system.
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The Dutch regulator has now explicitly established that publishers are immediately in violation if they continue to work with TCF standards. In its current form, TCF does not comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to the AP. “Websites using this system violate the GDPR. In the event of a violation of the GDPR, the AP can always enforce.”
Market parties are outraged by the attitude of the Dutch regulator, but express themselves cautiously. Stefan Havik, at DPG Media – the largest publisher in the Benelux – responsible for digital development in the Netherlands and Belgium, says he is surprised about the timing of the AP and its statements through the press. He would have preferred that the regulator first calmly consulted with organizations of media companies and advertisers.
Havik thinks it is still too early for legal action. He expects IAB Europe to come up with a further explanation and then wants to talk to the AP. In further consultation with the regulator, the advertiser organization Via Nederland will also deploy. Director Saskia Baneke: “The verdict in Brussels is clear: two months for adjustments. We hope to engage in conversation with the AP about the meaning and transition to new standards.”
Severe damage
In such consultations, advertisers and publishers hope to tell the AP what a total ban on advertising tracking cookies means. Havik: “This has consequences that the AP probably does not want either. Then even more money will go to global parties such as Facebook and Google instead of to local media.” Havik fears losing at least half of its advertising revenue. In any case, according to him, it concerns tens of millions of euros if Dutch websites are no longer allowed to record the interests of visitors.
The alternative to the TCF cookies is advertising based on the content of websites and articles, as NRC Media already does. This is called ‘context-related advertising’ and it does not depend on the individual visitor to the site. Havik calls this a limited alternative: “NRC serves a selective target group, mass media do not. Nu.nl provides the entire Dutch people with general news and we really need to know interests for relevant advertising. The fact that someone ‘reads the news’ is not a feature that an advertiser is willing to pay a lot of money for.”