Gong's complaint to Facebook and Google's handling of the personal data of users of their services was referred by the national body, the Croatian Personal Data Protection Agency (AZOP), to the Belgian supervisory authority for further action. This is stated in the response of the AZOP, which states that the proceedings in this case are currently underway.
We asked the AZOP to protect the citizens from their personal data trade with the purpose of targeted advertising, based on the analysis of Johnny Ryan, higher advisor for the Irish Council for Civil Liberties organisation. Ryan’s report proved that Google and Facebook cannot guarantee how the “third-party”, to which they sell the data, will use that data. That means that, when they give consent for the subsequent sharing of their data, the users don’t longer have the right to say anything, they don’t have the knowledge or control over how and for what their data is going to be used. Google and Facebook real time bidding systems send data on our online behaviour, habits, preferences, health status and locations to thousands of other companies. The citizens are like an open book for data brokers, who actually build and sell intimate profile of each and every one of us.
With this complaint, Gong joined the civil society organisations from 21 European countries that, in December 2020, sent complaints to their data protection national institutions. The majority of them forwarded those complaints to the Belgian, and some even to the Irish supervisory body.
We remind you that the Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD-GBA), responsible for personal data protection matters at the EU level, in October of last year concluded that the consent system that Google and almost every other online platform and application use, is not in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Gong is a beneficiary of operational support - structural support to European think-do-tanks in its entirety "Democratic and Civic Participation" under the Europe for Citizens program.
