An open letter was written in the United Kingdom by MPs, academics and advocates for children's rights. The letter is aimed at ending advertising to users under the age of 18 and is aimed at major technology companies such as Facebook and Google.
Among those who signed were Caroline Lucas MP Amnesty International, the International Privacy and Friends of the Earth.
The letter was published a few days ago after filing a lawsuit against Google which accuses her of breaching UK and EU data protection laws data, targeting people under 13 with addictive content and using data they obtained for advertising purposes. The letter calls on companies to protect all children under the age of 18.
An excerpt from the open letter reads as follows:
Η συμπεριφορική διαφήμιση υπονομεύει το απόρρητο των παιδιών. Για άτομα κάτω των 13 ετών, δεν θα πρέπει να συμβαίνει καθόλου: εκτός εάν δοθεί σαφής γονική συγκατάθεση, οι νόμοι περί προστασίας δεδομένων απαγορεύουν ρητά την εξέταση δεδομένων από μικρά παιδιά από τα οποία (δεδομένα) εξαρτάται η συμπεριφορική διαφήμιση. Το γεγονός ότι οι διαφημιστικές εταιρείες και οι εταιρείες τεχνολογίας κατέχουν 72 millions δεδομένα για ένα παιδί μέχρι τη στιγμή που γίνει 13 ετών, δείχνει την έκταση της αδιαφορίας για αυτούς τους νόμους και την εξαιρετική monitoring to which children are subjected.
But our concerns extend beyond the very small and beyond privacy issues. Children of all ages are more sensitive to marketing pressures, and are less likely to recognize content on payment and less likely to understand how and what kind of data is used for these purposes than adults.
In the case of Google, the company allows all users to disable ad personalization from their account settings.
To address some of the concerns raised by the signatories, the company could very easily have this setting turned off for all child accounts.
While this won't completely counter the tracking that Google does, it will eliminate it problem of behavioral advertising.
https://www.globalactionplan.org.uk