A Spanish commercial court has ordered Meta to pay €479 million in damages plus €60 million interest to 87 Spanish news publishers, ruling that the Facebook-Instagram-WhatsApp owner built its advertising empire by systematically breaking EU privacy laws.
Five Years of Rule-Breaking
Between 2018 and 2023, Meta collected and monetised personal data for targeted ads without ever obtaining proper user consent – a clear breach of GDPR, the court found.
While newspapers and broadcasters played by the rules and lost ad revenue, Meta used the illegally harvested data to dominate the market and rake in billions.
“A Question of Survival”
Irene Lanzaco, head of the Association of Information Media (AMI), which brought the case, called the verdict historic. “This is about whether independent journalism survives when tech giants cheat the system,” she said after the ruling.
The €539 million total will be shared among major Spanish publishers including El País, ABC, and El Mundo.
Meta’s Defence Crushed
Meta insisted its ad success came from “better technology”, not stolen data. The judge rejected that argument outright and came close to the €551 million originally demanded.
More Pain Coming
- Spanish broadcasters have filed a separate €160 million claim
- Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez launched a government probe on Wednesday and summoned Meta executives to parliament
Spain just fired the loudest shot yet in Europe’s war on Big Tech’s data free-for-all.
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