Comply With EU Rules, LinkedIn Stops Use Of Sensitive Personal Data For Ads

LinkedIn, Microsoft's social media platform (photo: dock. pexels)

JAKARTA - LinkedIn, Microsoft's social media platform, has stopped using tools that allow it to use sensitive personal data for targeted ads in order to comply with EU's online content rules. This was said by the social media platform on Friday, June 7.

The move follows complaints by civil society organizations against the European Commission, which also acts as a technology watchdog for the 27th block of the country.

Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), online intermediaries are required to give users more control over their data usage, where the option for them to disable personalized content.

Companies are not allowed to use sensitive personal data such as race, sexual orientation, or political opinion for targeted advertising.

The commission in March sent LinkedIn a request for information after the groups said it could allow advertisers to target LinkedIn users by race or ethnicity, political opinion, and other personal data because of their membership in LinkedIn groups.

"We have decided to adjust these tools by removing the ability to create an ad audience in Europe that uses membership in the LinkedIn Group as input," said LinkedIn vice president Patrick Co thanks, in a LinkedIn post.

"We are making these changes to prevent a misunderstanding that advertisements to European members can be indirectly targeted based on the category of special data or the category of related profiles," he said.

EU industry chief Thierry Breton welcomed this move. "The Commission will monitor LinkedIn's public implementation to ensure full compliance with DSA," he said in a statement.

Whistleblowers of European Digital Rights (EDRi), Gesellschaft f\"ur Freiheitsrechte (GFF), Global Witness, and Bits of Freedom welcomed LinkedIn's move.

"Forced by Europe to act, LinkedIn now has to expand this policy to users around the world and ensure not only those in Europe are protected from targeting invasive advertising," Nienke Palstra of Global Witness said in a statement.