People ask MEPs: Take the opportunity, end surveillance ads!

Thousands of people are asking the EU Parliament to end online surveillance advertising , ahead of the DSA (Digital Services Act) vote in the plenary on Thursday, 20 January 2022. EDRi is part of the movement mobilising people, together with individual organisations in the PeopleVsBigTech group and beyond.

Ahead of the vote, people are tweeting at their MEPs (Members of the EU Parliament), in a hope to overturn Big Tech’s intense lobbying from the past months. People are raising their voices, joining existing calls from civil society, EU data protection watchdog, SMEs and investors.

Big Tech wants to conceal reality with aggressive lobbying

Reporting on the methods of Big Tech’s activity in Brussels, CEO (Corporate Europe Observatory) documented the shift in the European Parliament biggest political groups position as a result of Big Tech’s aggressive lobbying.

In 2020, Big Tech companies and their proxies have felt the heat when EDRi and other civil society organisations have managed to put the issue of their exploitative business model on the European Parliament agenda last year. Speaking to our collective results, in October 2020 MEPs agreed that the EU must consider a phase-out leading to a ban of surveillance advertising.

The reality is 83% of people surveyed recently in Germany and France refuse to be targeted based on their personal data. Another survey shows 75% of the leaders of small and medium businesses (SMEs) in Germany and France think surveillance ads intrude on privacy. 69% of SMEs interviewed feel they have no other option but to use surveillance ads – due to BigTech’s industry dominance.

However, in 2022 the MEPs are set to vote in plenary on a potentially more watered-down, non-ambitious text, if changes to the mentions around surveillance advertising are not improved.

Amendments, one more push for a #DSADoneRight

The ambition gap in regards to surveillance ads that characterises the proposed text to be voted on can be solved. How? MEPs can and have already proposed amendments to the text that will be voted on separately, beforehand. Right after the vote on amendments, the new text (with or without new amendments) will be voted in plenary.

MEPs proposed last week amendments in order to truly improve the protection of all people from the harms of Big Tech’s surveillance-based business model. These amendments are, in fact, the only real opportunity for MEPs for a #DSADoneRight, and bring better protection to people from surveillance ads.

Amendment 499, amendment 500 and amendment 547 outlaw the most intrusive techniques used by surveillance ads, in this way limiting the harms inflicted by online tracking. Voting for these amendments would show that MEPs are meaningfully committed to the rights of the people who elected them.

EDRi has been urging MEPs to vote for these amendments, part of a broader recommendation reflecting our network’s priorities around interoperability, content moderation and recommender systems.

The harm of surveillance ads is real

Surveillance ads – based on tracking of people online and the collection of a vast amount of data – sit at the core of Big Tech’s business model. By now, everyone knows how damaging Big Tech’s business model is – for our democratic systems, our rights as consumers and as human beings. By now, everyone knows surveillance ads polarise, discriminate, and affect the mental well-being of children, youth and adults alike.

Change is coming, demanded by communities all over the world. Politicians must listen – for the sake of our communities to be able to participate in life, come together and address the pressing challenges of our times.

The Digital Services Act is a unique opportunity for EU law-makers to push for this change now. Will the Members of the EU Parliament take the side of people when voting on Thursday?

(Contribution by)