Conclusion of Title II

Summary

In this second title, I indicated how online platforms have disrupted the advertising industry in the past two decades by granularly profi ling and targeting consumers based on their personal demographic information and online behavioral patterns. I particularly selected Google and Facebook because their business models are based on advertising revenue. Although they are different platforms, they have both developed similar, sophisticated ways of monetizing their activities that are ultimately free of monetary charge for internet users. The abundance of personal data coupled with cutting-edge technologies has allowed both platforms to become leaders in the advertising business. While targeted advertisement can improve consumers’ experience by giving them access to content related to their interests, it can also replicate stereotypes and, in some cases, pose a major risk of discrimination against certain groups of individuals.

Having this in mind, I addressed the question of whether the legal frameworks in the EU and the United States are equipped to address discrimination in online targeted advertising. I conclude that data protection legal instruments and authorities in Europe are no longer silent on the risks of discrimination as a result of targeting practices. By setting a strong regulatory regime that outlines how companies can process data, the European legal framework offers safeguards to prevent unlawful discrimination. Data authorities have also acted by enforcing the principles of data protection laws in the past few years. However, even if European data protection law makes special room for addressing risks of discrimination, it does not set what discrimination precisely means. Per se, the regulation does not determine what kind of discrimination is unlawful with the same level of detail as EU antidiscrimination law does. In general, the regulation mentions in its Recital 71 that data processing practices should prevent discriminatory outcomes on the basis of individuals’ racial or ethnic origin, political opinion, religion or beliefs, and sexual orientation aspects. However, it does not defi ne in which contexts such differentiations are illegally discriminatory. In the light of EU antidiscrimination law, not all sorts of differentiations based on these grounds are illegal, as described in Chapters 1 and 3. In this regard, the regulation shall be completed and construed in the light of European and national antidiscrimination laws.