“Social network Facebook may not use, indefinitely and without taking into account their nature, all personal data obtained for the purposes of targeted advertising” – ruled on Friday, October 4, by the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg. The case concerns the Austrian activist Maximilian Schrems, who brought a case to court against the Meta company. The man questioned the processing of his personal data.
Facebook must limit data use. There is a judgment of the CJEU
The case first went to court in… Austriaand then to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The court ruled that personal data obtained through a platform such as Meta cannot be stored, analyzed and processed indefinitely for the purposes of targeted advertising.
Meta replied that it had invested over PLN 5 billion euroto ensure privacy. It assured that it does not use specific data provided by users to personalize advertising. “Every Facebook user has access to a wide range of settings and tools that allow them to manage the way we use their data,” a Meta spokesman emphasized in a message to Reuters Agency.
What does the CJEU judgment mean? The ruling applies not only to Meta
Maximilian Schrems' lawyer welcomed the CJEU ruling. “After this ruling, only a small portion of Meta's data pool will be able to be used for advertising purposes – even if users consent to the ads. This ruling also applies to any other online advertising company that does not have stringent data deletion practices,” she stressed.