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EU's Top Court Rules Facebook Cannot Exploit Users' Data for Ads in Schrems Case

Oct 4, 2024, 12:07 PM

On Friday, the European Union's top court ruled in favor of Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems in his privacy dispute with Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook. The ruling came after an Austrian court referred questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) regarding whether Facebook undermines the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with its use of personal data for targeted advertising. The CJEU determined that social networks like Facebook cannot indefinitely use people's data for ad targeting without proper consent and must limit their data retention practices. The court held that Meta should not exploit public information on users' sexual orientation and other personal data for targeted advertising purposes. This decision reinforces the enforcement of the GDPR and underscores the importance of user consent in data processing activities.