Facebook will need to get your consent for targeted advertising in Europe

The Court of Justice of the European Union inflicted a new setback to Meta, Facebook’s parent company, after an accusation of unlawfully collecting and processing personal data for the purpose of targeted advertising.

Meta had already been forced at the beginning of April to modify the legal basis on which it relied to personalize advertisements in order to comply with the European Regulation on Personal Data (GDPR). He claimed from his legitimate interest, a legal concept used by companies when the processing of personal data that they implement does not significantly affect the rights and interests of the persons concerned.

However, the Court of Justice of the European Union has held that, “in the absence of their consent, the interests and fundamental rights [des] users prevailed over the interest of the operator of an online social network in the personalization of the advertising by which it financed its activity”.

For privacy groups, which are trying to force Facebook to seek the consent of its users for such processing, this is a victory that could have serious consequences for the social network. decision “further clarifies that Meta cannot simply circumvent the GDPR with a few paragraphs in its legal documents”welcomed the Austrian activist Max Schrems, head of the Noyb association. “This means that Meta must obtain appropriate consent [de ses utilisateurs] and cannot use its dominant position to force people to agree to things they do not want”he continued.

Meta declares “evaluate the Court’s decision and we will say more in due course”.