Microsoft's Xandr grants GDPR rights at a rate of 0%

Advertising broker Xandr (a Microsoft subsidiary) collects and shares the personal data of millions of Europeans for detailed targeted advertising. This allows Xandr to auction off advertising space to thousands of advertisers. But: although only one ad is ultimately shown to users, all advertisers receive their data. This may include personal details concerning their health, sexuality or political opinions. Also, despite selling its service as “targeted”, the company holds rather random information: the complainant apparently is both a man, a woman, employed and unemployed. This could allow Xandr to sell ad space to multiple companies who think that they are targeting a specific group. As if that were not enough, Xandr does not comply with a single access request.  noyb  has now filed a GDPR complaint.

Background: targeted advertising. If companies want to use targeted advertising to promote their products or services online, they have to go through so-called Real Time Bidding (RTB) platforms. One such platform is run by Microsoft subsidiary Xandr, which allows advertisers to buy ad space on websites or in mobile apps in a fully automated way. When a user visits a website, an algorithmic auction takes place in order to decide which company can display an advertisement. Because a users’ interests and characteristics ultimately determine an advertiser’s willingness to place an ad, Xandr collects and shares a massive amount of personal data in order to profile the users and to allow for targeting. Much of that data is bought by external parties like emetriq, a subsidiary of the German Telecom.

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