IAB Ireland, together with some of its members, have met with a number of MEPs, local politicians and representatives of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to discuss their concerns about the proposed EU Digital Services Act (DSA) and any attempts to ban targeted advertising online within the EU.
Members of IAB Ireland, including The Irish Times, Mediahuis, Packed.House, DMG Media and Reach have met with the representatives in recent weeks and they have communicated the importance and value of targeted advertising to their business models and the unintended consequences a blanket ban would have for them and small businesses that depend on digital advertising.
The move comes as IAB Europe this week kicked off a campaign to highlight how a ban on targeted advertising would be an “own goal” for the digital economy in Europe and would damage European publishers and advertisers alike. The campaign, which is called #NoEasyWins, also coincides with ongoing discussions of the Digital Services Act by the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee in Brussels.
According to Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe: “The aim of the DSA – to make the internet a place European consumers can navigate with confidence, including by reducing the incidence of online disinformation – is a crucial one that the online advertising industry supports on the merits and out of self-interest. We fully endorse provisions in the original DSA proposal such as mandatory information disclosures on the identity of the advertiser, including for issue-based and political advertising, that go beyond what is already laid down in EU privacy and data protection law But a move to ban ‘targeted’ advertising would penalise SMEs and small publishers without necessarily having any material impact on online disinformation. As often in politics, there are no easy wins.”
