Slovaks can lose money, their online life is on the verge of fundamental change. The EU wants to make a controversial change – FonTech

How informs Startitup, The European Parliament is currently dealing with a sensitive and controversial issue. Targeted internet advertising is the target of a potential ban, and it is the main source of revenue for many companies.

We can really lose a lot

According to experts, such changes in online spaces will affect small and medium-sized enterprises, the media, but also ordinary Internet users. A ban on targeted advertising on the Internet would deprive businesses of revenue and European citizens of much of the content and services they benefit from today.

Without a clear alternative, access to a large part of content and services will be prevented, which can in turn lead to a significant reduction in lower-income households and an even greater restriction on access to information, says Michal Kordoš, CEO of SAPIE.

Digital marketer from iFocus.sk – Michal Čuridlo is of the opinion that no one likes advertising and after the change, people start to hate it. “Banning targeted advertising is nonsense, because those who don’t want to watch ads today can turn them down or just ignore them.” Recently, consumers paid for it on customs clearance of Chinese goods, which has substantially exceeded prices.

It doesn’t cancel the ads, it only makes them worse

According to him, such a law will only eliminate the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. “If we show retirees, for example, diapers for children or sneakers for young people, in the advertisement, it will not help consumers or advertisers. There will only be unnecessary chaos, and small and medium-sized advertisers will pay the most for it. “ spoke for Startitup.

According to Čuridl, the EU should have dealt with giants such as Facebook (Meta) and Google. “They dominate and add other services, creating dominance in user behavior data. Even the highest fines so far are the amount of their weekly advertising revenue, not to mention not addressing tax optimization. “

Dávid Krumpár from Lighthouse Media Solutions clarified that targeted advertising nowadays improves the quality of the user experience and, thanks to advanced algorithms, can largely deliver relevant content to the relevant target group.

Privacy is already protected

Krumpár claims that he agrees with the regulation at the level of personal data protection and privacy of a specific user, but the vast majority of platforms today allow us to adapt the content to the level of a specific user.

“I see the way in improving the transparency of the whole process and in other possibilities of adaptation up to a specific user. A blanket ban on targeted advertising would ultimately limit the delivery of relevant information to the target group and significantly affect the flexibility and efficiency of the distribution of products, services and information in the digital space. “

Melonberries creative director Pavol Sekelský also thinks this is not the right solution. “By not being able to target the ad, there will be a huge digital advertising smog, because the ads will randomly appear to the masses as stray bullets.”

The EU itself knows how important they are

The European Commission has recently emphasized, how important is targeted advertising for the entry of small and medium-sized enterprises into the markets and their expansion. Their research shows that as many as 68% of these businesses say that using targeted advertising is an effective way to reach new customers.

Fewer barriers to market access mean more competition and a more competitive Europe overall. On the contrary, the restriction of online advertising will mainly affect small businesses and startups with small marketing budgets. For many of them, something is practically liquidating and unacceptable. Nowadays, during a pandemic, businesses are even forced to digitize in order to survive.

The introduction of the ban may also jeopardize free access to various content platforms (eg Spotify, Youtube), which offer free versions of their services through advertising.

The ban will be expensive

The estimated cost of banning advertising could reach up to € 106 billion a year, or € 237 per European citizen, points out Copenhagen Economics. This creates a position in favor of online users who can pay for the platform’s premium services.

As a result, access to unlimited online content virtually disappears. This will put people at a disadvantage who cannot afford to pay these special bonuses and, moreover, would be a serious disagreement with the EU’s fundamental principles of equality, freedom and democracy.

It is also key for exports

Targeted advertising is especially useful for regional SMEs, but also for exporters who need to reach customers globally. The Slovak Alliance for Innovative Economics informs about it.

“European regulators should give priority to combating illegal content and misinformation, and how to intervene in detail and technically in the mechanism of digital advertising. At Sapie, we are ready to support all such activities, ” added Michal Kardoš.

As emphasized in a statement from the European Commission, new legislation on digital services is intended to guarantee the protection of fundamental rights. “Citizens are playing an increasingly important role in political life thanks to online tools and services, so when creating regulations affecting online services, we should pay attention to e.g. fundamental rights of access to information and freedom of expression online, “ it is written in the document.