Spanish Media Association sues Meta Platforms for €550 million in damages
The Spanish Media Association has filed a €550 million lawsuit against Meta Platforms, accusing it of unfair competition in the advertising market and violating European data protection regulations. They claim that Meta Platforms illegally uses user personal data to gain a competitive advantage and maintain market dominance. The lawsuit was filed by the Spanish Media Association on Friday with the Madrid Commercial Court, and they also reserve the possibility of expanding the scope of the lawsuit.
Zhitong App has learned that an organization representing 83 Spanish media outlets announced on Monday that they have filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, seeking €550 million (USD 598 million) in damages for unfair competition in the advertising market.
The organization is the Spanish Media Association (AMI). The AMI Newspaper Publishers Association stated that the lawsuit was filed by the AMI Newspaper Publishers Association on Friday in a commercial court. They accuse Meta Platforms of systematically and extensively violating European data protection regulations from May 25, 2018, to at least July 31, 2023.
The statement mentioned that "due to Meta Platforms' insistence on violating the requirements set by the European Data Protection Board on October 27, 2023," an unfair competition lawsuit has been filed with the Madrid Commercial Court, and the association reserves the possibility of expanding the scope of the lawsuit. AMI also emphasized that "Meta Platforms has repeatedly failed to comply with community data protection legislation and disregarded the regulatory requirements for citizens' consent to the use of their data for advertising analysis, as evidenced by the different resolutions of the European institutions responsible for this issue."
These companies pointed out that Meta Platforms' actions mean that "100% of the revenue obtained by this tech giant from selling targeted advertising is obtained illegally. Without the consent of users, Meta Platforms systematically and extensively uses personal data of its platform users to track user information, allowing this US company to maintain a competitive advantage in the market based on illegal gains."