Meta needs to re-evaluate the legal basis for how Facebook and Instagram use personal data to advertise in the European Union, the block’s top privacy regulator said on Wednesday as it fined the social media giant €390 million (around Rs. 3,500 crore) documented the violations.
Meta said it intends to appeal both the content of the judgments and the fines imposed, and that the decisions do not prevent personalized advertising on its platforms.
The personalized ads order was issued by the EU’s data protection regulator in December, according to a Reuters decision overruling a draft decision by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), Meta’s lead EU data protection authority.
It referred to a 2018 change to the Terms of Service Facebook and Instagram after the introduction of new EU data protection laws, where Meta tried to rely on the so-called “contractual” legal basis for most of its processing operations.
Having previously relied on users’ consent to process their personal data for targeted advertising, Meta instead said that a contract was formed with the acceptance of the updated 2018 Terms and that this made such advertising lawful.
The DPC, the leading data protection authority for many of the world’s largest technology companies within the EU, has ordered Meta to bring its data processing operations into compliance within three months.
Meta said it firmly believes its approach respects EU data protection laws, which allow for a number of legal bases under which data can be processed, and that the decisions also do not require the use of consent for the processing of data.
“We want to reassure users and businesses that they can continue to benefit from personalized advertising across the EU across Meta’s platforms,” Meta said in a statement.
The penalties brought the total of fines previously imposed on Meta by the Irish regulator to €1.3 billion (approx. Rs 11,500 billion). Currently, 11 more requests for meta services are open.
The DPC said that as part of its decision, the EU data protection authority allegedly ordered the Irish regulator to conduct a new investigation that would cover all data processing operations by Facebook and Instagram.
The DPC said it was not possible for the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) to order an authority to become involved in such investigations and intends to ask the EU Court to overturn the EDPB’s order as it could involve “exaggeration”. . .
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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