Spain fines Meta: 'Give half a billion to publishers'
The decision comes at the end of proceedings brought by 87 online publications and news agencies, which accuse the Palo Alto giant of illegally using user data
Meta has been sentenced in Spain to pay €479 million to digital publishers for practices deemed anti-competitive and in violation of the European Data Protection Regulation. A sentence that, regardless of how it will end, is already the heaviest ever issued by a Spanish court against the group led by Mark Zuckerberg. The decision comes at the end of proceedings brought by 87 online publications and news agencies, which accuse the Palo Alto giant of illegally using user data for behavioural advertising on Facebook and Instagram.
In more detail, according to the Commercial Court of Madrid, the giant, which also owns WhatsApp, allegedly obtained a 'significant competitive advantage' in the Spanish advertising market through the use of personal information collected and processed without an adequate legal basis, as required by the GDPR. The conduct allegedly allowed the company to generate extra advertising revenue, to the detriment of publishers competing for the same market.
Accusations that Meta clearly rejects. In fact, the Californian company has already announced a legal battle. "This is an unfounded decision, lacking concrete evidence of damages and deliberately ignoring the workings of the online advertising industry," a company spokesperson told Reuters news agency, emphasising that Meta believes it has always provided users with transparency, control tools and clear information on data processing.
At the heart of this alloy controversy, however, is a rather profound detail. And that is the change of legal basis adopted by Meta in May 2018, when the GDPR came into force. Since then, in fact, the company switched from user consent to 'contract' justification in order to continue proposing personalised advertising. A choice later deemed non-compliant by the European guarantors.
Only in August 2023, Meta reportedly reverted to the explicit consent model. The judge estimated that in the five years in between, the company made at least EUR 5.3 billion in profits related to practices in violation of the regulation, assessing the entire amount as illegally obtained.
