The European Union has launched a new law, The Digital Markets Act 2024 (DMA) which also applies in the UK, and it is likely to make an impact on both marketers and businesses alike. This is because it has implications for many businesses and organisations with a website.
So what is it and how does it impact UK businesses and organisations?
You know that consent pop-up that loads up when you first visit a website? Well, now all businesses and organisations will have to make sure that people who don’t consent to cookies and tracking are truly anonymous. This means this law affects essentially anyone with any kind of tracking on their website.
What is the The Digital Markets Act 2024?
The Digital Markets Act 2024 (DMA) builds on the GDPR act and puts the onus on ‘gatekeepers’ such as Facebook, Tiktok and Google to gain explicit consent from its users to collect and store their data.
Although it was launched in September of 2023, The Digital Markets Act will be in full effect in March of 2024. This means digital marketing giants such as Facebook and Google will be making changes to their platforms in Europe to remain compliant with these data protection laws.
What are the compliance requirements for advertisers under the DMA?
Essentially, website owners will need to ensure that all tracked data has received explicit consent from their users and this must include the below.
– Tracking on your website (where users accept cookies)
– All other first and third party tracking
If you track any of the following marketing data, you need to ensure you should be compliant with the DMA.
– User demographics and interests with cookies
– Remarketing and tracking with Google Analytics
– Reporting on Adverts including Google ads
– Google Tag Manager tags
– Facebook Pixel tracking
– Google Ads tracking
– Cross platform reporting
Essentially, any type of website user tracking is covered by this law and businesses and organisations are responsible for making sure that when users decline to be tracked, none of their data is stored and associated with them.
What are the implications of Google Consent Mode V2?
Following the announcement of the DMA (2024) Google has stepped in with a solution in the form of Google Consent mode. It allows businesses and organisations to remain compliant with the law by noting whether consent has been given, then sending an automatic anonymous ‘signal’ when consent options are declined.
This prevents an individual picture of a user’s activity being built without their explicit consent being given.
What are the penalties under the DMA (2024)?
The DMA has laid out that gatekeepers who pass on and store data without consent will be subject one or all the following;
– Fines for non-compliance
– Bans from advertising
– Restrictions of advertising
– Data deletion
As you can imagine, this could make advertising, tracking website data and remarketing difficult if organisations and businesses are caught out under this law.
What do I have to do to make sure my website is compliant with the Digital Markets Act 2024?
There are several steps you can take to remain compliant with the Digital Markets Act.
– Ensure you have a way of noting and updating who has given consent to being tracked on your site, we suggest using Consent Management Platforms such as Google Tag Manager who can note who has consented.
– Make sure that when users decline cookies, they are not tracked.
– Update your website data tracking to Google Analytics 4 from Universal Analytics.
– Install the latest tags/ API for Google Ads if you run pay-per-click adverts.
– Seek advice from digital marketing experts to ensure you have covered all the bases.
There also may be some key changes you will need to make to how you track events and conversions if you are running ads on Google or other platforms such as Amazon, so talk to your account manager for these platforms.
Overall, the DMA (2024) is likely to make a huge impact on giants such as Google but it is also relevant to small businesses and organisations and can have some significant negative consequences if they are caught in non-compliance with this new law.
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