On May 14, the Belgian Court delivered a major blow to the online advertising world by ruling that the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) is illegal.
For years, nearly 80% of websites have used the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) to secure user consent for data tracking. Big tech players like Google, Amazon, and X (formerly Twitter) have heavily relied on this system. They use it to justify how they collect personal data from users.
The court’s decision came after relentless legal action. In 2018, Dr. Johnny Ryan, Director of Enforce at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, launched a series of complaints across Europe. It challenging Real-Time Bidding (RTB) — the behind-the-scenes system driving today’s online advertising.
RTB tracks what people search for, what they browse, and even where they go in real life. It then pushes this data out to numerous companies, allowing them to create detailed profiles on every internet user. Because the system lacks proper safeguards, users have no way of knowing who ends up with their data or how companies use it.
For the past seven years, the advertising industry leaned on the TCF to cover RTB practices under a legal framework. Now, the Belgian Court’s ruling has stripped away that protection. Forcing the entire tracking-based advertising ecosystem to face serious questions about its future.
Source : Storyboard18.com
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