ECJ: Meta must minimize the use of data for advertising purposes
The highest European court has made fundamental decisions on Meta's data collection and processing for advertising purposes.
(Image: mundissima/Shutterstock.com)
Meta will no longer be allowed to use as much personal data for online advertising in the European Union as before. In addition, the social network operator may only use publicly accessible data for the purposes for which it was originally published. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) came to this decision (C-446/21) in proceedings brought by Austrian data protection activist Max Schrems against the Facebook parent company.
Schrems had made a statement about his sexual orientation during a public panel discussion. According to the ECJ judges, this does not entitle the operator of an online social network to process other data relating to his sexual orientation in order to aggregate and analyze it and offer him personalized advertising.
Certain data under special protection
Schrems had complained in Austria that Meta did not adhere to the principle of "data minimization" from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and stored all online behavior instead of limiting processing to what was necessary. Schrems also argued that data relating to sexual orientation, for example, is subject to special protection under the GDPR and may only be used in certain exceptional cases.
Such an exception exists, for example, if the information has already been made public. In order to clarify this issue in principle, the Austrian Supreme Court referred the matter to the CJEU. The latter has now issued a preliminary ruling, leaving the final judgment in the specific case to the Austrian Supreme Court in accordance with the ECJ's guidelines.
The ECJ had already answered some questions in earlier proceedings and, for example, strengthened the competition supervision of the antitrust authorities with regard to Meta and its services Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.
No specific deadline
The GDPR itself does not specify a concrete time limit for how long data may be stored, but only sets out general principles. In its ruling, the ECJ now states that the indefinite storage of personal data of users of a social network for the purposes of targeted advertising is to be regarded as a disproportionate interference with rights.
Lawyer Katharina Raabe-Stuppnig, who represents Max Schrems, stated in a press release: "We are very pleased with the ruling, even though this result was to be expected." Meta has built up a large pool of user data over the past 20 years, which continues to grow. However, EU law requires data minimization.
According to this ruling, Meta may only use a small part of the data pool for advertising purposes – even if the users consent to the advertising. "This ruling also applies to all other online advertising companies, which often have no data minimization procedures," explains the lawyer.
(anw)
