The EU's Next Move on Online Advertising

  • Panel
  • Grande Halle
  • Friday 23.05 — 16:00 - 17:15

Organising Institution

AWO

Belgium

  • Academic 2
  • Business 1
  • Policy 3
With the passing of the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, and a potential Digital Fairness Act being discussed by political actors in the new mandate of the European Commission, the EU's legislative and enforcement agenda on online advertising now stands at a cross-roads. This panel will look into the impact of (1) industry-led initiatives such as Apple's ATT or Meta's pay or consent initiative, (2) the increased use of AI for targeting, (3) the new online ads transparency provisions of the DMA and the DSA and (4) outcomes of new relevant court cases such as the DOJ Google Search trial, on the online advertising market. Can we identify potential regulatory gaps or does Europe have all the tools it needs to properly regulate this market?

Questions to be answered

  1. What has been the impact of new adtech initiatives on users and the advertising market?
  2. How does AI increase the risks that are traditionally associated with online advertising?
  3. To what extent have the DMA and DSA improved market outcomes and reduced negative externalities?
  4. What are the remaining gaps in the EU's legislative framework on digital advertising?

Moderator

Lex Zard

Harvard Carr Center for Human Rights Policy - United States

is a legal scholar with expertise in the European Union digital policy regarding surveillance advertising. In 2024, Lex defended his thesis, 'Power & Dignity: The Ends of Online Behavioral Advertising', at Leiden University (the Netherlands), where he also worked as a researcher and a teacher from 2018 to 2024 at eLaw—Center for Law and Digital Technologies. His research primarily addresses the boundaries of influencing humans in the online environment, including through interface design and artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

Speaker

Nick Botton

AWO - Belgium

Nick supports the delivery of AWO’s public policy client services and projects, providing research, report writing and project management support. His areas of expertise are digital advertising, child safety, AI (AI Act, Generative AI), open source, privacy, and platform regulation (Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act). He is the co-author of an online advertising study prepared by AWO for the European Commission.

Speaker

Denis Sparas

European Commission - Europe

Denis Sparas is a Legal and Policy Officer for the European Commission's Digital Markets unit (DG CNECT).

Speaker

Harriet Kingaby

Conscious Advertising Network - United Kingdom

Harriet is a serial founder, speaker, thought leader and mentor accelerating solutions to information disorder. Working at the intersection of advertising, human rights and climate change. She has worked on work on climate change misinformation, greenwashing and conscious advertising.

Speaker

Nataliia Bielova

Inria - France

Nataliia Bielova is a Research Director (equivalent to Full Professor with tenure) at Inria -- the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology. During 2022, she was a Senior Privacy Fellow at the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL). Dr. Bielova is a privacy expert and her current research interests are at the intersection of Web privacy measurements, auditing compliance with EU laws and human computer interaction with a strong focus on regulating consent, Web tracking and dark patterns.