Regulating data processing for digital advertising: Why we got it wrong (and how to fix it)

Konstantina Bania

Chapter 3 in Research Handbook on Data, Privacy and Competition Law, 2025, pp 58-89 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Advertising is the lifeblood of the internet, the source of funding for almost everything users read, hear and watch online. Personal data plays a significant role in digital advertising because it facilitates audience segmentation, retargeting and attribution. The way in which personal data is extracted and processed raises concerns from the perspective of competition, data protection, fairness and consumer protection. At face value, EU law offers many tools that may protect businesses and users against harmful practices that are pervasive in digital advertising. These tools include horizontal instruments, such as competition law and the General Data Protection Regulation, and sector-specific initiatives, such as the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act. However, these tools have largely proved inadequate to remedy the shortcomings of data processing for the purposes of digital advertising. This is attributed to various factors, ranging from how ill-designed the applicable rules are to significant enforcement weaknesses. Drawing on the deficiencies of such rules, this chapter makes suggestions for how to reform the existing legal framework.

Keywords: Digital advertising; Online platforms; Data protection; Unfair commercial practices; Dark patterns; Digital competition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781802202328
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