Global Authorities Address Social Media Scraping Concerns
On October 28, 2024, 17 global data protection authorities, issued joint follow-up statement that emphasized the need for social media companies to enhance the protection of personal information. The joint statement addresses the growing concerns surrounding mass data scraping, particularly the automated extraction of personal information from social media platforms. Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Philippe Dufresne, highlighted that even publicly accessible information is protected under privacy laws and requires adequate safeguards.
The follow-up statement builds on the initial guidance issued last year, which outlined key privacy risks associated with data scraping. It calls for organizations to comply with privacy regulations when using personal data to develop artificial intelligence models. Additionally, companies are urged to implement a comprehensive set of safeguarding measures to keep pace with evolving scraping technologies and techniques.
Data protection authorities engaged with major social media companies following the first statement, fostering dialogue that allowed for a deeper understanding of the challenges these companies face in combating unlawful scraping. Social media platforms reported implementing various measures to protect against unauthorized data extraction, indicating a commitment to enhancing their defenses.
The new guidance outlines specific expectations for organizations, including the lawful execution of permissible data scraping for commercial or socially beneficial purposes. It also emphasizes the importance of using platform design elements and artificial intelligence to create barriers against automated scraping, ensuring that small and medium-sized enterprises can also meet their data protection obligations effectively.
