Sign up for free updates on EU tech regulation
Get the latest EU tech regulation news every morning with our myFT Daily Digest email.
Facebook, owned by Meta, has faced another setback in its handling of personal data for online advertising. The EU’s highest court has ruled that competition regulators have the authority to investigate whether companies comply with privacy rules.
The Court of Justice of the European Union stated that Germany’s cartel office was justified in blocking Facebook from merging data from its platform and WhatsApp without user consent, in order to target individuals with ads.
“In the context of examining an abuse of dominant position, a national competition authority can determine that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been violated,” the court explained in a statement, referring to the EU’s privacy regulations.
The court also emphasized the need for cooperation among competition authorities in such cases.
Experts view this ruling as a significant step towards empowering antitrust regulators in the EU to address the business practices of major tech companies like Meta and Google, particularly regarding their data handling methods.
Facebook appealed the 2019 decision, arguing that the German regulator was blending privacy and antitrust laws. However, a court in Düsseldorf temporarily allowed the company to combine the data until a final ruling was reached.
In June 2020, Germany’s highest civil court ruled that Facebook must comply with the order from the antitrust watchdog, leading to substantial changes in how the company manages user data.
The German court then sought the perspective of the EU courts on whether antitrust regulators could include data usage in their investigations of anti-competitive practices.
The ruling on Tuesday stated that “the processing of the data at issue, in the absence of the data subject’s consent, cannot be justified by the personalized advertising through which the online social network Facebook finances its activity.”
Additionally, the EU proposed a new law that would enable regulators to share information about fines earlier in privacy breach investigations.
“This will facilitate consensus-building and reduce the likelihood of disagreements,” according to a document seen by the Financial Times. This initiative comes after a dispute over the appropriate fine for privacy breaches committed by Meta.
“We are reviewing the court’s decision and will provide further updates in due course,” commented Meta.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
