US EditionSpanish court orders Meta to pay $550 million to digital media companies
Madrid court fined Meta €479 million for breaching GDPR and antitrust laws by using personal data for targeted ads, benefiting from unfair competition against 87 Spanish news outlets.
- On Thursday, Madrid's Commercial Court ordered Meta to pay 479 million euros to Spanish digital media outlets, compensating 87 digital press publishers and news agencies for data use in behavioural advertising.
- After the GDPR took effect, Meta shifted its legal basis from user consent to `necessity for the performance of a contract`, but regulators later deemed it inadequate, prompting consent reversion in August 2023.
- A judge estimated Meta earned at least 5.3 billion euros in advertising profits over five years and treated the entire amount as obtained in breach of the GDPR, adding to a nearly 800 million euros fine by the European Commission last year.
- The ruling is subject to appeal, court documents note, and Meta said it would work with Spanish officials but did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
- The ruling comes amid a series of European investigations into Meta, as Spain's left-wing government targets alleged privacy violations with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez ordering a lower house committee to probe hidden tracking of Android device users.
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110 Articles
Spanish Court Orders Meta to Pay Nearly Half a Billion Euros in Damages to Media Outlets
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish legacy media companies in Spain scored a victory against social media giant Meta after a Madrid-based court ordered Thursday that it must pay news outlets nearly half a billion euros in damages.
The Madrid court considered that Meta used undisputed personal data protected by Facebook and Instagram users to insert advertising into those social networks.
Spain: Justice condemns Meta to pay more than €540 million (approximately CAD $875 million) to local media for "unfair competition".
Spain court orders Meta to compensate media for ‘unfair competition’
A Spanish court on Thursday ordered Facebook owner Meta to pay local media outlets 479 million euros ($552 million) in compensation for "unfair competition" in breach of EU data protection rules. The potentially landmark decision was centred on European Union law which obliges companies to obtain users' consent to create lucrative personalised advertising from their
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