Security News > 2023 > July > Facebook behavioral ads banned by Norwegian privacy watchdog
The Norwegian Data Protection Authority, the country's data privacy watchdog, has banned behavioral advertising on Meta's Facebook and Instagram social networks.
Meta extensively monitors the users' actions, meticulously tracking their activities across its platforms, according to the Norwegian DPA. The company uses content preferences, the info they post on Facebook and Instagram, and their location information to build personalized profiles that simplify targeted advertising, a tactic commonly known as behavioral advertising.
"The Norwegian Data Protection Authority considers that the practice of Meta is illegal and is therefore imposing a temporary ban of behavioural advertising on Facebook and Instagram," the data protection agency said.
Failure to comply with the decision would come with a daily penalty of roughly $100,000, as enforced by the Norwegian DPA. While this is only a temporary ban of three months starting August 4th, the privacy watchdog says it's considering reaching out to the European Data Protection Board to extend the decision beyond the initial three-month ban.
In December 2022, the Irish Data Protection Commission fined Meta a total of €390 million for conducting illegal behavioral advertising, forcing Facebook and Instagram users to consent to personal data processing for targeted advertising.
In November, Meta was hit with another €265 million fine by the Irish data watchdog for failing to protect Facebook users' data from scrapers after data linked to 533 million Facebook accounts leaked on a hacker forum.