It is accused of failing to comply with European data protection regulations, according to the union that represents them.
More than 80 Spanish media appealed against her today Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagramto which accuse that it did not respect the European regulations for the protection of personal dataaccording to the association that represents them.
These media, members of the Media Association (AMI), the main professional media organization in Spain, are seeking 550 million euros from the American group for “unfair competition” in this lawsuit, AMI said in a statement.
The media accuses Meta of “systematically and massively” violating “European data protection law” from May 25, 2018 to July 31, 2023, which requires users’ consent for their data to be used for advertising purposes.
This is a practice which “allowed the American group to propose (…) the sale of advertising space on the basis of an unfairly acquired competitive advantage”, to the detriment of traditional media, which for their part respected this regulation , assures AMI.
Meta “built its dominant position in the advertising market by violating regulations”, which caused “obvious damage to the Spanish media to the point of jeopardizing its viability”, AMI president Jose Holli said. which the notice refers to.
Among the media groups represented by this association are the Prisa group, owner of the newspaper El Pais and sports AS, but also Godo (La Vanguardia, Mundo deportivo…) and Vocento, which publishes the conservative newspaper ABC.
Meta did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.
The appeal comes as the American group launched in early November in Europe a new system that allows users to no longer see personalized ads for a subscription or otherwise “continue to use free” of its services by consenting to Meta accessing personal his data.
This new model has been the target of appeals in Austria and Brussels, while in France it has been flagged by the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumerism and Anti-Fraud (DGCCRF).
Facebook and Instagram have 144 and 133 million regular users respectively in Europe excluding the UK, according to Insider Intelligence.
Source :Skai
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