Executive Director of the European Publishers Council (EPC), Angela Mills Wade, said: “On the day that the world celebrates the importance of data protection and privacy, we would like to highlight the shortcomings of the GDPR. This regulation has allowed large tech companies to collect and process personal data in a way that puts news publishers at a major competitive disadvantage, inhibiting their ability to commercialise content and communicate with their subscribers. We believe that European Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) need to urgently engage in joint enforcement efforts to target the data processing activities of large tech platforms.
“The relationship between publishers and their audience is built on trust, and responsible data practices are a core element of that trust, which needs to be maintained. Publishers have invested heavily in solutions to adapt to the legal framework set by the GDPR since its adoption six years ago.”
EPC welcomes the organisation of a conference on the future of data protection by the European Data Protection Supervisor in June this year. Publishers call on DPAs to take this opportunity to engage with competition authorities and develop a coordinated approach towards the common objective of tackling anti-competitive data processing.
Twitter: @epc_Press
Note to Editors:
On 26 April 2006, the Council of Europe decided to launch a Data Protection Day to be celebrated each year on 28 January, the date on which the Council of Europe’s data protection convention, known as “Convention 108”, was opened for signature. Data Protection Day is now celebrated globally and is called Privacy Day outside Europe.