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Pinterest faces EU privacy complaint over tracking ads
When it comes to privacy nightmares, Pinterest is unlikely to be the first social app that springs to mind. But the visual discovery engine's use of
While Pinterest has generally flown under the radar, with regard to online privacy issues — especially compared to other mainstream ad-funded social services (such as Facebook) — it’s worth recalling that the company’s tracking and profiling was pulled center stage in the tragic case of the suicide in 2017 of the U.K. schoolgirl, Molly Russell. While noyb has filed this case in France, where the regulator (CNIL) has a strong reputation for enforcing on privacy complaints — including around the issue of consent — it’s possible it could be passed to Ireland’s Data Protection Commission on account of Pinterest having its regional HQ in Dublin. Albeit, it’s a version of ‘consent’ that forces users to choose between paying it for an ad-free subscription or accepting its tracking ads for free access to its services — that’s itself now also subject to privacy, consumer protection and competition complaints.
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