Financing digital services almost exclusively through personalised advertising poses considerable risks to democracy, social cohesion, informational self-determination, climate and national security.
The EU has established important cornerstones to protect online users in the shape of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). At the same time, the reactions of large corporations to this legislation show that a paradigm shift in the online advertising market is still needed, as the advertising industry is persistently undermining efforts to prevent manipulative practices. Alternative (e.g. contextual) advertising models create opportunities for reaching people beyond the omnipresent tracking and targeting, and thereby protecting them in data processing operations. The new European Commission should take digital fairness seriously and push for a ban on personalised advertising to bolster alternative advertising models.
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