EUROPEAN PRIVACY OFFICIALS WIDEN BAN ON META'S BEHAVIORAL ADVERTISING TO MOST OF EUROPE

European officials widened a ban on Meta’s “behavioral advertising” practices to most of Europe on Wednesday, setting up a broader conflict between the continent’s privacy-conscious institutions and an American technology giant.

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Behavioral advertising, used by Meta’s Facebook and Instagram among many other tech companies, involves observing individual behavior such as browsing habits, mouse clicks and app usage, then using that data to build profiles for targeting ads.

The decision by the European Data Protection Board represents a sharp escalation of a tussle that began in Norway, where privacy officials imposed a daily fine of 1 million kroner (roughly $90,000) on Meta for obtaining that data without adequate consent. Those fines have been piling up since August 14.