Privacy Alert: Rights Groups Fight Back Against Stalkerware Advertising

Civil rights activists are mobilizing against apps that enable cyberstalking. However, they are not taking direct action against operators and providers, but against Google. The accusation is that the search engine giant is ultimately promoting violence against women by displaying ads for so-called stalkerware. According to the Digital Services Act (DSA), Google is obliged to take preventative measures against gender-based violence.

Together with the "Team against Digital Violence", the GFF filed a complaint against Google with the EU Commission and the Federal Network Agency on Monday. The organizations criticize that the US company displays ads for cyberstalking apps in searches for surveillance tools. Google earns a lot of money from this and "contributes to the clearly recognizable upward trend in the use and supply of such apps".

EU Commission should act

Stalkerware enables users to read messages, listen in on phone calls and switch the camera on and off unnoticed. Such apps log websites visited, text messages, emails and calendar entries, among other things. Targets can often also be located via GPS. This allows people to be secretly monitored, which, according to the complainants, mainly affects women.

Manufacturers often market relevant apps as programs that also serve to protect children, the complainants emphasize. However, the latter have completely different functions and are visible on the device. Data security is often not good when it comes to stalkerware. For example, a recent leak involving mSpy exposed millions of customers who were using it to shadow third parties.

The DSA obliges very large online platforms and search engines to reduce systemic online risks. The complainants are now calling on the Commission to open proceedings against Google. They want to prevent stalking apps from being advertised via the search engine and significantly reduce the discoverability and use of such programs by stalkers.

In 2022, the Commission proposed to criminalize cyberstalking and cyberbullying, the non-consensual sharing of intimate images and incitement to hatred or violence online across the EU. However, the project has not yet made much progress. In Germany, particularly serious cases of stalking, which also include the use of apps, are punishable by up to five years in prison.

(olb)