"While we respond to the various questions regarding our proposed changes to our personalized ads in Europe, we are suspending the deployment of this part of our privacy policy update," TikTok said in a statement to AFP.
The decision, which comes on the eve of the changes taking effect, follows open discussions with the Irish Data Protection Authority (DPC).
"The DPC has asked TikTok to provide it with detailed information on the announced changes, on which it immediately consulted all other EU data protection supervisory authorities, while carrying out its own analysis," it said. the regulator, contacted by AFP.
The popular American social network for the youngest, owned by Chinese ByteDance, wants to be able to target its adult users in the European Union, Switzerland and the United Kingdom in the name of a "legitimate interest" of the company, and no longer having to ask them to explicitly consent to the collection of their data for the purposes of personalized advertising.
The NGO Access Now, which defends the rights of Internet users, accused TikTok in early July of "manifest violation" of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the purpose of targeted advertising.
The Italian and Spanish data protection authorities then indicated that they would mobilize on this issue.
"We believe personalized ads provide the best experience on the app and bring us closer to industry practices, and we look forward to engaging with our stakeholders and answering their questions," the TikTok spokesperson added. .
Targeted advertising according to the profile and preferences of users is the basis of the economic model of the major social platforms, but this technique has been contested for several years in the name of the right to privacy, as well as to protect minors.
Two other investigations against Tiktok are being processed by the DPC, one on data transfers to China and the second on the processing of children's personal data.
© 2022 AFP