Latest Worldwide Developments on Personal Data

ICO 'welcomes' improvements in Meta's pay-or-consent plan for UK.

In a statement released Friday, the U.K Information Commissioner's Office said it welcomes Meta's decision to ask users for consent to use their personal data for advertising purposes. After engaging with the ICO and under its pay-or-consent advertising model, Meta will offer U.K. users a subscription "price point close to half that of EU users." Noting that people "must be given meaningful transparency and choice about how their information is used. ... At the same time, the ICO also recognizes that online platforms, like every business, need to operate commercially." The agency also said it will be monitoring the rollout of the service change.

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White House signs deal to keep TikTok available to US users.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to allow TikTok to continue to operate in the U.S. through a joint-venture with U.S. based companies, CNBC reports. The deal would lower TikTok's parent company ByteDance's investment in the company to 20%, allowing TikTok to operate in the U.S. after concerns ByteDance allegedly shared user data with the Chinese government.

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Microsoft disables some cloud services to Israel's Defense Ministry over surveillance practices.

Microsoft deactivated some of its services in Israel after it claimed the country's alleged mass surveillance practices violated its products' terms of services, The New York Times reports. While the company will still support Israel's cybersecurity efforts, Microsoft President Brad Smith said it has terminated the use of some if its products due to "a shared interest in privacy protection, given the business value it creates by ensuring our customers can rely on our services with rock solid trust."

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Apple asks European Commission to repeal DMA.

Apple asked the European Commission to either repeal or reduce the scope the EU Digital Markets Act, claiming the regulation makes it difficult to conduct business in the EU, The Wall Street Journal reports. If the DMA is not repealed, Apple wants to see enforcement duties vested in an independent agency "shielded from political interference," according to Apple comments made to the Commission. European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said, "There's absolutely no intention from the commission side to repeal the DMA."

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US court to hear remedy arguments in Google advertising monopoly case.

Hearings have begun to determine what should be done about Google's monopoly over online advertising technology, The New York Times reports. A judge already ruled Google broke antitrust law to maintain dominance over online advertising. The question remains on whether the company will be forced to make its technology, and subsequently its user database, more available to its competitors.

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European Commission's plans to address cookie consent banner requirements.

The European Commission is weighing eliminating cookie consent banner requirements under the 2009 e-Privacy Directive, Politico reports. Potential changes to the e-Privacy Directive could include exemptions for websites and allowing users to set their cookie consent preferences within their browser versus each time they visit a website.

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TikTok to amend age assurance tools following joint inquiry by Canadian DPAs.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and provincial privacy commissioners from Alberta and British Columbia released a report detailing their joint inquiry into TikTok's privacy standards for children. The enforcers found alleged inadequacies with TikTok's age assurance mechanisms, which will be overhauled as part of a subsequent compliance order and company commitments.

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Australia's digital regulators release paper on immersive tech.

Australia's Digital Platform Regulators Forum released a paper on immersive technologies. The paper looks at the potential data collection issues with extended reality devices, part of the forum's two-year strategic goals to understand and assess the technology. The analysis covers how technologies "may exacerbate risks and harms" under each regulators' enforcement remit.

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CNIL issues parental guidance for tracking children's location.

France's data protection authority, the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés, urged parents to consider the potential data protection risks of tracking their children's location with geolocation devices. The CNIL said if parents must use a geolocation device for security purposes, they should ensure children's data is secure and potentially disable location services when the device is not being used to prevent unwanted tracking.

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Netherlands DPA encourages LinkedIn users to opt out of data sharing for AI training.

The Netherlands' data protection authority, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, is urging LinkedIn users to consider opting out of data sharing by 3 Nov. to prevent their information from being used for AI training, NL Times reports. AP Vice-Chair Monique Verdier warned once user data is shared with the AI model, "you lose control: it's impossible to remove it, and the consequences are difficult to predict."

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IAPP Weekly News 22.09.2025 - 26.09.2025