EU Court Sides with Activist Schrems, Orders Meta to Limit Personal Data Use for Targeted Ads

Oct 4, 2024, 12:15 PM

On Friday, Europe's top court ruled in favor of Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems in his privacy dispute with Meta Platforms. The Court of Justice of the European Union determined that social networks like Facebook cannot indefinitely use all personal data obtained from users for targeted advertising without restrictions on time or type of data. The ruling stipulates that Meta must limit the use of personal data harvested from Facebook for personalized ads and cannot exploit public information on users' sexual orientation or process additional data from third-party sites for such purposes. This decision impacts Meta's data retention practices and may affect its advertising business in the European Union. The ruling also sets a precedent that affects other online advertising companies without stringent data deletion practices.