A search-engine marketing toolkit used by an EU retailer forwards raw user search queries containing names and locations to multiple advertisers without filtering or notice. What principle is most clearly at risk?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
A search that says 'cardiologist near Maria Rossi Milan' is personal data wearing work boots. Shipping raw queries to a pile of advertisers without care breaks minimisation and transparency. SEM tools do not get a GDPR hall pass.
Full Explanation
Search queries can constitute personal data when they relate to an identified or identifiable individual. SEM and related advertising technologies remain within GDPR's material scope when such data are processed. Controllers and processors must apply purpose limitation, data minimisation, security, and transparency rather than indiscriminately leaking query content to advertisers. Tooling convenience does not create a sectoral exemption.