The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled Friday (Oct. 4) that Meta Platforms can use only some of the data it gathers from Facebook users to deliver targeted advertising.
The ruling came in a case brought by privacy activist Max Schrems that went to an Austrian court before going to the CJEU, Reuters reported Friday (Oct. 4).
Schrems, who has brought several cases against Meta for alleged breaches of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), said the company processed personal data to deliver tailored advertising to him, according to the report.
In its Friday ruling, the CJEU said under the data minimization principle outlined in the GDPR, social networks like Facebook cannot use all the personal data they obtain from users to deliver targeted advertising, per the report.
After the ruling Meta said there are categories of data provided by users that it doesn’t use to personalize ads, that advertisers on the platform are not allowed to share sensitive data, and that Facebook users are provided with tools that allow them to manage the user of their information, according to the report.
In a statement posted Friday on the website of noyb, a non-governmental organization that works to enforce data protection laws, Schrems’ lawyer, Katharina Raabe-Stuppnig, said: “Meta has basically been building a huge data pool on users for 20 years now, and it is growing every day. However, EU law requires ‘data minimization.’ Following this ruling, only a small part of Meta’s data pool will be allowed to be used for advertising — even when users consent to ads. This ruling also applies to any other online advertisement company that does not have stringent data deletion practices.”
In a separate case, noyb filed a complaint against the social platform X, accusing the company of unlawfully utilizing users’ personal data to train its artificial intelligence systems without obtaining proper consent.
In another case filed in June, noyb alleged that Google was tracking users of its Chrome web browser without proper consent, an issue that had already drawn the attention of EU antitrust regulators.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More