Can contextual advertising be used if the user refuses to accept cookies?

ANSWER

Contextual advertising includes all advertising techniques that involve directing advertising content to recipients based on the context in which a person encounters the advertisement.

Therefore, unlike personalized advertising, contextual advertising is not based on tracking a user's behavior, such as their website browsing habits.

As a general rule, displaying contextual advertising does not require the use of tracking mechanisms.

It should be noted, however, that the French supervisory authority (CNIL) takes the position that even in the case of contextual advertising, tracking mechanisms are often used that require the user's consent.

These mechanisms may be used for the purpose of measuring advertising effectiveness, for example:

• limiting the repetition of advertising content displayed to the same user;
• preventing fraudulent clicks;
• measuring advertisement viewership and performance.

In such cases, where tracking technologies are used for these additional purposes, obtaining the user's consent may still be required, even if the advertisement itself is contextual rather than personalized.