By noyb.eu
Publication Date: 2026-10-12 00:00:00
Online Advertising. A lot of smartphone apps send highly personal data of their users to thousands of advertising partners via online tracking IDs. A report by the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) uncovered how every time we use apps on our phones, personal data about our interests, habits, and behavior is sent to a large number of “shadowy entities”. This information is used to create comprehensive profiles, which can then be used for targeted advertising and other purposes.
Three complaints. In 2020, the NCC and noyb filed three GDPR complaints against the dating app Grindr and several adtech companies that received personal data through the app. One of these complaints concerned Xandr, an online advertising company that now belongs to Microsoft.
Xandr violated the law. Now, the Norwegian Data Protection Authority has decided that Microsoft’s Xandr violated the GDPR. It processed personal data, including sensitive information on sexual orientation, without a valid legal…
