Europe to extend ban on targeted ads for Facebook and Instagram

Europe has been scrutinizing big tech companies seriously for a few years now, and it’s been working towards reigning in these companies’ powers. One of the aspects on which Europe has been focusing is how companies use citizens’ data. Meta received a temporary ban from showing targeted ads to users in the EU back in July, and now it seems the ban is getting extended, reports TechRadar.

Facebook and Instagram still won’t get targeted ads in Europe

For those of you who don’t know, targeted ads are personalized ads that an app delivers to you based on an analysis of your online behavior and interests. Europe doesn’t like that data collection and has been cracking down on it for a while now.  In July of this year, Norway’s Data Protection Authority (DPA) issued a temporary ban on Facebook and Instagram’s targeted ads. Norway isn’t a part of the European Union, but it’s a part of the European Economic Area. The ban was going to eventually expire, but it’s now about to be extended by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC).

The new ban is going to be in effect for longer and covers the entire European Economic Area and countries like Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.

It is unclear how long this ban extension will go on, and whether the European Union will ever let Facebook and Instagram get targeted ads in the region. Meta now has a new subscription option for European users that will get rid of ads entirely on its two biggest social media platforms. Maybe that will be the way to go forward for Meta in Europe – counting on people wanting ad-free Meta platforms instead of targeting personalized ads to them.