Snapchat: AI chatbot is not allowed to collect advertising data

According to a ruling by the Cologne Regional Court, the app, which is particularly popular with young people, must change the way it handles its users' data. In mid-September, the court largely upheld a lawsuit brought by the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (VZBV) against Snap Group Limited. The particular point of contention was the use of an AI chatbot to obtain advertising-relevant data. The judges also criticized the app's default settings for alcohol and gambling advertising. The company has announced that it will appeal the decision.

Integrated into the messenger and photo app Snapchat is an AI chatbot called “MyAI” with which users can chat. According to information from VZBV, a notice opens before the chatbot is used for the first time: "My AI can use information you provide to improve Snap Inc.'s products and personalize your user experience, including advertisements." The consumer protection umbrella organization sued against this.

According to consumer advocates, minors would be encouraged by the AI ​​bot in the chat to share their data. Ramona Pop, board member of the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations, explains: “The chatbot poses as a friend on Snapchat and encourages you to feed it personal data. A relationship of trust is created that tempts you to reveal sensitive information. The data is then used to display targeted advertising.«

The Snap subsidiary had argued in court that it was a “forced collection” of data if users still shared personal data with the AI. The court rejected this with reference to Article 9 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). According to the ruling available to SPIEGEL, the Snapchat operator is now prohibited from "processing personal data collected using the generative AI chatbot 'My Al' contained in the app for advertising purposes without a legal basis." According to the court, even if a user provides personal data on their own initiative, the data cannot be used to display targeted advertising. The decision is not yet legally binding.

A Snap spokeswoman said in response to SPIEGEL's request: "Since the lawsuit was filed in 2024, we have made changes to My AI, including the removal of advertising."

To use the Snapchat app, people must be at least 13 years old. The consumer advocates warn that minors aged 13 and over “are not yet aware of the dangers of passing on sensitive data to the same extent as adults.” The consumer advocates say they have confirmed through sample inquiries that the data of underage users was processed unlawfully.

Violation of child protection

In the advertising settings in the app, users can also choose between various topics that interest them under the “Interests and Lifestyle” tab. Some topics have already been clicked on without the user taking any action. Only if you scroll all the way down on this page will you see that the three topics: “Politics,” “Alcohol,” and “Gambling” are all already preselected.

Here, the VZBV saw minors as a violation of youth protection, which the regional court confirmed in its judgment. The company is not allowed to preselect the categories “Alcohol” and “Gambling” for underage users, as this violates the legal ban on showing alcohol and gambling advertising to children and young people.

»We have never allowed advertising for alcohol or gambling services to be shown to minors. This would have violated Snap's advertising guidelines at any time," said a company spokeswoman in response to a SPIEGEL request. The display preferences section includes the sentence: “You can turn off these settings to see fewer ads on these topics. Regardless of these settings, the ads you see are subject to Snap's advertising policies, which include, but are not limited to, age restrictions for ads depicting alcohol and gambling."

The court also declared the app's current data protection settings to be inadequate because Snapchat had activated extensive consent to data processing for advertising purposes by default and also wanted to pass on data to advertising partners. However, the court insisted that users must actively give consent for data processing to be legal.