Meta must pay Spanish media nearly half a billion euros in damages

A court in Madrid today ruled that Meta, the owner of social networks Facebook and Instagram, must pay Spanish online media almost half a billion euros in damages.

The Commercial Court in Madrid has said that Mark Zuckerberg's company took advantage of an unfair market advantage by collecting personal data of internet users in violation of European law and using it to make advertising more effective.

Meta will have to pay a total of 481 million euros in damages to 81 Spanish media outlets.

"The unlawful handling of this vast amount of personal data meant that Meta had an advantage that Spanish online media could not match. Meta's actions damaged Spanish digital media's online advertising revenues," the court said in a statement.

The court agreed with the Spanish media's claim that Meta had been violating European regulations for five years, before the company aligned its legal basis for consent to collect personal data with European law in 2023.

According to the EU's General Data Protection Regulation of 2018, companies that collect users' personal data must adhere to technical and organizational measures to protect users' privacy.

Meta announced that it would appeal, calling the verdict "unfounded".

"This is an unfounded claim that lacks evidence of alleged harm, and deliberately ignores how the online advertising industry works. Meta complies with all applicable laws and has provided clear choices and transparent information, and has provided users with a range of tools to control their experience on our services," the company said.

This is not the first time that Meta has violated EU rules regarding personal data.

For their violations, the Irish Data Protection Commission fined Meta €265 million in 2022.

The Spanish court said its ruling could affect other legal cases in Europe, including France, where Meta is facing a similar lawsuit.

Meta insisted that the EU relax its regulations.

Last week, the Spanish financial markets supervisor fined social network X five million euros for allowing advertising by an unauthorized cryptocurrency platform, which was suspected of using false advertising.