Associate Professor Midas Nouwens, co-director of the Centre for Critical Data Practices (C4CDP) contributed to the two-part TV2 documentary Fanget som gambler, which investigates gambling addiction in Denmark. As part of the project, Nouwens worked with the documentary team to obtain data from gambling companies using GDPR access requests, to better understand what data they collect, for what purpose, and who they share it with.

The concern driving these questions was that gambling companies may be using behavioural data and profiling to target customers in a way that may exacerbate their addiction. This has already been the subject of legal proceedings in other countries (see https://awo.agency/articles/landmark-high-court-ruling-on-gdpr-consent-to-profiling-and-targeting/). 

While the documentary team received some data, some companies refused to name the third-party organisations they had shared data with, despite a 2023 ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union clarifying that such disclosure is legally required under GDPR. In response, a formal complaint has been submitted to the Danish Data Protection Authority. 

 This work shows data protection law can be used to create transparency about data practices and, by working together with journalists, use this insight for public accountability.  

Fanget som gambler is now available on TV2.