This is a decision that will greatly attract the attention of the French media. A Spanish court has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to pay nearly 480 million euros to local media “unfair competition”for non-compliance with regulations on the protection of personal data, a sum of money was accompanied by a legal interest of 60 million euros.
Some procedures are being performed in France. Two collective organizations representing hundreds of French media filed complaints with the Competition Authority in July and September against Meta regarding remuneration related to the use of press content (neighbouring rights),
Most importantly, 200 French media, including TF1, France Télévisions, Radio France and Le Figaro, took Meta to court in April for reasons similar to the Spanish case, accusing the digital giant of just that “illegal practice” in online advertising.
In its ruling, the court also indicated that similar complaints were being made in France and this ruling underscores that “the fundamental role of competition law in controlling abuses related to the illegal processing of personal data and the enormous information and economic power of technology giants”.
“GDPR Violation”
In detail, the Spanish judge assessed that Meta had “gained a significant competitive advantage by advertising on the social networks Facebook and Instagram in violation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)”.
“Meta Ireland, the headquarters of Meta Spain, did not provide reports to the court about its activities in Spain,” explained the court’s press release.
Therefore, the judge relied on data provided by the Spanish digital press, and concluded that during the five years that the violations took place (from May 25, 2018, the date of entry into force of the GDPR, – until August 1, 2023, the date when Meta again asked users to give consent or not), Meta had earned in Spain with its online advertising activities more than 5.281 billion euros.
The judge ruled that some of this money was due “redistributed to other competitors in the Spanish advertising market, including the Spanish digital press” because it has already been won “in violation of the GDPR”.
Therefore, he carried out calculations to evaluate “harm caused to the Spanish digital press with reasonable grounds”namely the loss of profits due to Meta’s actions and those “loss of digital advertising revenue”. “The judge assumed the amount won was higher, because if it were lower, Meta would explain his activities in Spain at trial”continued the press release.
