The source – theverge.com
The European Parliament voted Thursday to approve on first reading a bill aimed at restricting Big Tech's advertising practices (via Bloomberg).
The Parliament passed the bill with 530 votes in favor, 78 against and 80 abstentions.
The Digital Services Act, first introduced in 2020, would prevent platforms such as Google, Amazon and Facebook from using sensitive information such as sexual orientation, race and religion for targeting ads.
Yes! with a huge majority, the European Parliament adopted the Digital Services Act. A big win, with support from left to right 💪!
— Paul Tang (@paultang) January 20, 2022
Special thanks to all the colleagues that worked so hard to achieve this result. (cc @SchaldemoseMEP) #DSA #DigitalServicesAct pic.twitter.com/1wiVfCqlw2
The draft also includes two rules that Parliament agreed to last month:
- a ban on both targeted ads for minors;
- a ban on "dark patterns," a practice some platforms use to trick users into agreeing to share their data.
Any company that violates these rules will be fined up to 6 percent of its total revenue.
As Bloomberg notes, the Digital Services Act has yet to overcome negotiations with the European Council, which begin Jan. 31.
