Online Ad Association Fined for Privacy Violation

An association for online advertising companies has been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for developing an ad-targeting tool that violated European Union data laws. 

The Belgian Data Protection Authority (BE DPA) said it was necessary to impose “harsh sanctions” on IAB Europe because the association’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) “could, for a large group of citizens, lead to a loss of control over their personal data.”

The TCF tool allows online publishers and websites to obtain users’ consent to process their personal data for targeted advertising. It was designed to facilitate real-time bidding (RTB) – a means by which advertising inventory is bought and sold on a per-impression basis via instantaneous programmatic auction. 

In a statement released October 2020, IAB Europe said that the TCF is a voluntary standard whose purpose is to assist companies in the digital advertising ecosystem to comply with EU data protection law.

“It contains a minimal set of best practices seeking to ensure that when personal data is processed, users are provided with adequate transparency and choice,” said IAB Europe. 

“Its policies do not assist or seek to assist the processing of special categories of data. It does not intend to replace legal obligations nor enable practices prohibited under the law.”

The Belgian data watchdog imposed a fine of €250k ($282,690) on IAB Europe and ordered the advertising association to implement a “series of remedies” to ensure that it ..

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