Switzerland proposes banning profiling-based ads to minors

jonathanstrange

I agree with that. If profiling-based ads were allowed, minors would no longer receive ads for booze and porn. They'd have to ask their older brother about the real internet, which is embarrassing.

chinathrow

Great start, now do it for all ages.

tiahura

So they can get gambling and wiener pill ads too?

4ggr0

how will the age of the browsing person be evaluated without checking for IDs? or do kids still get profiled, but if they get profiled and determined to be a kid you can't serve them ads? we could also teach kids at school how to install adblockers. i'm all for it if we expand it to banning ads in all virtual and physical spaces of Switzerland :D (or at least inside of public transport, i hate how distracting and useless these freaking ad-panels in buses, trains, trams etc. are). EDIT: okay per a different article[0], social media platforms and search providers have to analyze if their service enhances risks for minors, and do something against it if so. and "big platforms" shouldn't be allowed to serve personalized ads to kids. so they'll just serve unpersonalized ads to kids then? bwoah... [0] https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/kommunikationsplattformen-bu...

philipallstar

Just keep them off the internet. What's the point?

icyfox

There's been a lot of recent swiss efforts to curtail advertising. Off the top of my head: - Zurich's parliament voted 58–57 last year to place limits on outdoor advertising (have 2027 to come up with implementation) - Bern fully instituted the ban but reversed course over revenue concerns - Vernier & Lancy have banned billboards They certainly seem to have the appetite to reduce the size of the industrial advertising complex... but there's clearly some successful industry pushback (like in the case of Bern). Curious to see how this profiling shakes out. Hard to make a revenue loss argument so I'm guessing it'll pass.

hmokiguess

and how do you know who's a minor?

walthamstow

This kind of ballot issue is a great filter. It's so obviously correct, the reason of any normal person will be "why was it legal at all?", so anyone arguing against the ban is quite probably paid to do so and should be ignored.

forinti

All ads to minors should be banned. An ad is a business proposal and minors cannot do business without the consent of their parents.

NooneAtAll3

> to minors why limit only to them? why not to ban it altogether?

impossiblefork

Here in Sweden it's illegal to make ads directed at children. Consequently the TV channels that do so transmit from abroad. This would of course have been easy to ban anyway-- it's not like we can't have rules on foreign internet firms, for example, but historically the politicians were unwilling to make a useful law. I think the Swiss could take one step further and add a general ban on ads targeting young children in addition to this; and then we Swedes should imitate the package.

esel2k

I wonder if it would be simpler for the digital advertisement to ban companies to block adblockers solutions. Yes we might kill a certain business area, which lead to let companies find other income sources. Removing targeted advertisement on minor should be no brainer but just harder to implement (everyone is curious and say they are 18).

throwawayy6767

Why not just ban all ads?

coldtea

The whole world should

rrgok

Ban ads without users' consent altogether.

ctolsen

Should do it across the board. The world would be a better place if harvesting personal data for ad targeting was illegal.

classified

They should ban those generally, not just for minors.

Telaneo

Could we drop the 'to minors' part of that? Either way, great move.

Buttons840

What benefit does this have for minors that wouldn't also apply to adults?

bryanrasmussen

so does one need to profile if someone is a minor in order to show them an ad from a random pool of minor and non-minor ads?