Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Norwegian Consumer Council, Out of Control: How Consumers Are Exploited by the Online Advertising Industry, published on 14 January, which states that a number of mobile applications are violating the EU General Data Protection Regulation.

We are aware of the recent report on the online advertising industry published by the Norwegian Consumer Council. The Data Protection Act 2018 and the GDPR is in place to ensure that organisations, including advertising companies, who collect and use personal data do so lawfully and transparently. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regulates data protection legislation in the UK. It is working with the advertising industry to improve compliance with the law and has published the following blogs which urge organisations to review their processes and systems. Organisations which fail to comply with the legislation may be the subject of enforcement action.

https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/blog-advancing-the-adtech-debate-from-a-data-protection-perspective/ 12 February 2019

https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/blog-adtech-fact-finding-forum-shows-consensus-on-need-for-change/ 07 March 2019
Last year the government announced its intention to review how online advertising is regulated in the UK, looking at how well the current regime is equipped to tackle the challenges posed by developments in online advertising.