Putting GDPR to the test: What can the European Commission tell us about a company that uses user data to track its business practices? An EU regulator’s warning on Meta
After consulting with the European Data Protection Board, it was decided that Meta could not rely on the contract as a total defense of its business practices. The EDPB’s guidance also led regulators to increase their planned fines for the company. Meta must bring its operations into compliance with the regulations within three months.
Meta says it intends to appeal, but the ruling shows change is inevitable, say privacy activists. “It really asks the whole advertising industry, how do they move forward? And how do they move forward in a way that stops these litigations that require them to change constantly?” says Estelle Masse, global data protection lead at digital rights group Access Now.
The ruling, which comes with a $400 million fine and is targeted specifically at Facebook andinstagram, is a huge blow to Big Tech as a whole. It’s also a sign that GDPR, Europe’s landmark privacy law that was introduced in 2018, actually has teeth. More than 1,400 fines have been brought on since it took effect, but this time they are willing to take on the business model that makes it possible to be spied on. Johnny Ryan is a senior fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and says that it is the beginning of the end of data free-for-all.
EU regulators did not tell Meta how to reform its operations, but many believe the company has only one option—to introduce an Apple-style system that asks users explicitly if they want to be tracked.
Meta was a huge blow for companies that rely on user data for advertising revenue. In February 2022, Meta told investors Apple’s move would decrease the company’s 2022 sales by around $10 billion. Research shows that when given the choice, a large chunk of Apple users (between 54 and 96 percent, according to different estimates) declined to be tracked. One of the company’s main revenue streams would be threatened by a similar system if Meta was forced to introduce it.