A court in Madrid just hit Meta with a massive financial penalty. On Thursday, the judge ordered the tech giant to pay €479 million ($552 million) to 87 Spanish media organizations. The ruling states that Meta violated data protection laws to gain an unfair advantage in the advertising market.
This legal battle centers on how Facebook and Instagram handled user data after the European Union enacted its strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018. Before that, companies generally needed clear permission to track users. When the new rules went into effect, Meta changed its legal strategy. Instead of asking for direct consent, they claimed they “needed” to collect personal data to fulfill their contract with users. Essentially, they argued the apps wouldn’t work properly without that tracking.
Regulators eventually shot down that argument, forcing Meta to return to asking for user consent in 2023. However, Spanish media outlets argued that Meta cheated over those five years. By harvesting data without the same hurdles as everyone else, Meta could target ads much more effectively than local publishers who played by the rules.
The court agreed with the publishers. The judge wrote that Meta’s illegal handling of massive amounts of data gave them a competitive edge that Spanish media couldn’t match. The court calculated the damages based on Meta’s ad revenue during the five years they used the banned data strategy.
Meta immediately pushed back against the ruling. The company called the lawsuit “baseless” and claimed it ignores how online advertising actually works. They insist they followed all laws and provided users with clear tools to control their data. Meta plans to appeal the decision, meaning this legal fight isn’t over yet.
