Political microtargeting illegal. With its new decisions, the Berlin Data Protection Authority has reprimanded several major German political parties (CDU, SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, DIE LINKE) for using sensitive political interests to target internet users with personalised political advertising. Such “microtargeting” is only possible because online platforms create extensive user profiles with people’s interests, habits, interactions and other information. These details can be used to manipulate users in the electoral process. Therefore microtargeting poses a threat to democratic elections.
According to the Berlin authority, there was no legal basis (such as consent) for targeting users based on their personal political interests
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