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EU DSA · EU-DSA-ART28-3-NO-MINOR-PROFILING-ADS

EU DSA Article 28(2) - Prohibition of profiling-based advertising to minors

Prohibit presenting advertisements based on profiling using personal data when the platform is aware the user is a minor

CRITICALProhibitionProfilingBinding regulationIn forceApplies from 17 February 2024

Where this comes from

Provision: Article 28(2) - Prohibition of profiling-based advertising to minors

Instrument: EU Digital Services Act (Regulation 2022/2065)

Citation: Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Article 28(2)

Text version: Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (DSA), OJ L 277, 27.10.2022

Read the official text ↗

Who it applies to

It applies when all of these are true:

  • Service is an online platform
  • Service has users in the European Union
  • Service is accessible by minors
  • Service displays advertising

…unless:

  • Contextual advertising based solely on the content being viewed (not user profiling) is permitted. (DSA Recital 71)

Scope in the source's own terms

  • Platform serves users identified as minors
  • Platform displays advertising to users
  • Platform uses profiling or behavioral data

What engineering work it implies

Sample acceptance criteria Landfall generates for this obligation:

  • The block applies to ad targeting specifically (content/feed ranking is out of scope for this duty)
  • No personal data of a known minor is used to select advertisements
  • Attempts to serve profiled ads to a known-minor account are blocked and logged
  • A known-minor account receives no profiling-based advertisements
  • Ad selection for a known-minor account uses no profiling personal data

Evidence an auditor expects

  • Technical controlTechnical audit

    Ad targeting exclusion for minor users

    Code/configuration showing users flagged as minors are excluded from behavioral ad targeting segments

  • Process recordLog analysis

    Ad serving logs demonstrating compliance

    Logs showing ad decisions for minor users with no profiling-based targeting applied

  • Test resultsUser testingRecommended

    Testing evidence showing ad targeting bypass works

    Test accounts for minors showing only contextual ads served, no personalized ads

Questions people ask

Does EU DSA Article 28(2) - Prohibition of profiling-based advertising to minors apply to my service?
It applies when Service is an online platform; Service has users in the European Union; Service is accessible by minors; Service displays advertising. It does not apply where Contextual advertising based solely on the content being viewed (not user profiling) is permitted. (DSA Recital 71).
From when does this apply?
EU DSA Article 28(2) - Prohibition of profiling-based advertising to minors applies from 17 February 2024. Its current status is: in force.
What evidence does an auditor expect?
Ad targeting exclusion for minor users; Ad serving logs demonstrating compliance; Testing evidence showing ad targeting bypass works.

Find out whether this one lands on you

Landfall's pre-scan answers the applicability question above for your product in minutes, then turns every obligation that applies into traceable engineering tickets with a citation chain your auditors can follow.

Run the pre-scanAll EU DSA obligations

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