Du kan inte lura ett barn, eller? - En undersökning om barns skydd vid personifierad onlinereklam

Sammanfattning: With the development of digitalization, personalized online advertising has grown worldwide. This means that companies, through so-called Cookies, collect personal data about the consumer to then create online advertising based on the consumer's interests. Cookies are a small data file that saves information about the consumer and then with the help of Online Behavioural Advertising, the data file with information can be sent on to other websites. This is the reason a user's feed on Tiktok, for example, can look the same on Instagram. It can be a very effective method of advertising for businesses because they understand what the consumer wants and what the consumer is most likely to buy. However, the fact that companies collect personal data about minors can be problematic. Problematic to the extent that children do not have the same knowledge and understanding of what advertising is or means. Companies not only risk misleading children with personalized online advertising, but also risk forcing children to buy products through aggressive marketing. With regulations such as The Marketing Act, GDPR, Electronic Communications Act, International Chambers of Commerce and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the protection of children in the case of personalized online advertising is regulated. Rules such as that children under 16 should not be sent direct marketing and that children under 13 in Sweden must have parental consent when collecting personal data. Even the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been Swedish law since 2020, protects children in the form that they must not be exposed to physical, psychological harm or be exploited. Although all these regulations contain rules on the protection of children, there is no direct ban on personalized advertising aimed at children. However, the Digital Services Act will prohibit that. DSA is the result of large online platforms becoming increasingly larger and more powerful. With the fast development, the EU Commission understood that the regulations should also be updated at the same pace, to cover all areas and protect consumers more. Despite the DSA, the EU Commission's voluntary network has developed 5 principles for good advertising aimed at children and a (BIK+) strategy, which highlights how companies should treat minors as a target group. With several cases reported about the application Tiktok, such as in the Netherlands for an example, it can be stated that Tiktok, which is one of the larger platforms, collects information about minors without consent and without clarifying what the consent means. Hence, DSA can be of great help in matters relating to child protection. By investigating what the existing regulations say, then investigate the DSA, EU-commission's 5 principles for good advertising to children and the (BIK+) strategy, it is found that children will be protected more. However, since the legal areas are in constant development, the question of child protection does not have an obvious answer, yet.