Open Markets Calls on Facebook to Make Global Its New Consent Requirement for Surveillance Advertising
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 1, 2023
CONTACT: Ashley Woolheater,
Open Markets Also Urges U.S. Lawmakers to Step in Should Facebook Refuse to Extend Protections to U.S. User Base
WASHINGTON -In reaction to the news that Facebook and Instagram will get consent from users in the EU, EEA and Switzerland before exposing them to surveillance advertising, or targeted ads, Open Markets released the following statement urging the tech giant to require the same consent from U.S. users and users around the world, and called on U.S. lawmakers to step in should Facebook fail to do so in the U.S.:
“Surveillance advertising is a threat to our democracy and to the safety of every user of today’s dominant online platforms,” said Open Markets Executive Director Barry Lynn. “Thanks to the German competition authority and the European Court of Justice, privacy advocates in Europe scored a major victory by forcing Facebook to get consent from European users before surveilling their activities online. We strongly urge the company to extend these same commonsense protections to everyone. If Facebook fails to do so, U.S. law enforcers and lawmakers should immediately move to force Facebook to provide the same protections to U.S. users.”
The Open Markets Institute has written extensively on the dangers of surveillance advertising and advocated for policies that advance greater internet privacy. In November 2022, Open Markets, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, and the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue, a forum of 75 NGOs, sent the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) a joint submission on the privacy, market, and security hazards of surveillance advertising, urging the agency to act against commercial surveillance and to define “Real-Time Bidding” (RTB) as an unfair and deceptive practice as the FTC considers new privacy rules.
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The Open Markets Institute is a team of journalists, researchers, lawyers, economists, and advocates working together to expose and reverse the stranglehold that corporate monopolies have on our country. Learn more at www.openmarketsinstitute.org.