Facebook lost a legal challenge Tuesday at the European Union’s top court over a groundbreaking German antitrust decision that limited the way the company uses data for advertising. Now, Facebook will need to ask for permission from users before delivering personalised ads in the EU region.
The European Court of Justice said competition watchdogs can consider whether companies like Facebook comply with the continent’s strict privacy rules, which are normally enforced by national data privacy regulators.
The court ruled that antitrust authorities can take into account any violations of data privacy rules as they investigate whether tech giants are abusing their dominance in the market by boxing out competitors.
The Meta-owned social media platform is already fighting a legal battle over a 390 million euro fine by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) for forcing users to accept the platform’s data collection policies to sign up for the company’s social media services including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
It was also hit with a record $1.3 billion fine by the DPC over how it collected that data, specifically personal data that was transferred to US-based servers since 2020.
In response, Meta has said that it intends to appeal both decisions, and is, “disappointed to have been singled out”. It also called the rulings, “flawed” and “unjustified” arguing that it set a, “dangerous precedent” for other companies.
Tuesday’s decision could pave the way for stricter scrutiny of tech companies. Europe has taken a pioneering role in reining in the power of big digital platforms with sweeping new standards taking effect next month and rules in the works on artificial intelligence.
