Austria's top court rules Meta's ad model illegal, orders overhaul of user data practices in EU
The ruling ends an 11-year dispute, requiring Meta to reveal all personal data processing details within one month, reinforcing user consent for personalized advertising.
- On Thursday, Austria's Supreme Court ordered Meta to disclose all personal data within one month, including sources, recipients, and processing reasons, for Max Schrems.
- After receiving only partial data from Meta, Max Schrems, Austrian privacy activist and lawyer, sued Meta and the dispute was repeatedly appealed to Austria's highest court and twice to the European Court of Justice.
- Schrems received 500 euros in damages, and overall litigation costs have exceeded 200,000 euros.
- Noyb said the court rejected Meta's limits, removing barriers to disclosure, and added the final ruling will lead to unprecedented access by Max Schrems to Meta's data practices.
- The court stressed that personalised ads without consent are prohibited, and Katharina Raabe-Stuppnig said Austrian case law makes it `realistic` that complainants could obtain substantial awards, considering litigation costs over 200,000 euros.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Austria supreme court rules Meta’s personalized ads unlawful
Austria’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Meta’s personalized advertising model practices violate EU data protection law, which requires a company to obtain consent with “clear and plain language,” about how one’s personal information is used—something Meta has failed to do. The court held that Meta cannot rely on “contractual necessity” under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to process user data without consent for targeted ad…
Meta Ordered to Provide User’s Complete Personal Data in Austrian Supreme Court Ruling
Austria’s highest court has ordered Meta to give an online privacy activist full access to his personal data, establishing what could be a landmark legal precedent across the European Union. In a decision handed down on Dec. 18, Austria’s Supreme Court of Justice sided with Austrian lawyer and activist Max Schrems, who first sued Facebook in 2014, seeking complete access to the personal data the social media company had collected about him. In a…
This was decided by the Supreme Court (OGH) on Thursday, the lawsuit goes back to Max Schrems.
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