2023-11-02 14:12:52
Europe continues to make things difficult for Mark Zuckerberg’s social media emporium. The European Data Protection Committee (CEPD) It has forbidden what Facebook and Instagram continue to process users’ personal data to show them targeted advertising based on their tastes and browsing habits through the mechanisms they have been using to date: they will need to resort to the explicit consent of the Internet user to do so. The measure affects all EU countries, including Spain, and the rest of the states belonging to the European Economic Area.
The Committee notified its decision to the data protection regulator of Ireland, which is the country where Meta is based in the EU, on October 27 to convey its decision to the company. It fulfilled its obligation on the 31st and, since then, the technology company has one week to comply with the demand.
The CEPD’s decision comes preceded by a request made by the data protection authority of Norway, a country belonging to the European Economic Area, which last July already contacted the company owned by Zuckerberg to request it stop using user data to show them targeted advertising. Given the company’s refusal to make changes, it has been receiving daily fines of more than 80,000 euros from the Scandinavian country since the beginning of August.
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The CEPD’s decision represents a serious blow to Meta’s most important business: advertising. Tools like Facebook and Instagram have been generating billions of euros in profits for years thanks to the company’s ability to offer advertisers the ability to show advertising to users based on their information and interests. Because, obviously, for a company like Sony, it is not the same thing for a PS5 ad to be shown on the boards of 60-year-old users who have never held a controller in their lives than for it to appear embedded on the screen of a 20-year-old young man. who has been mashing buttons all his life.
Until now, Meta had used the legal bases of contract and legitimate interest to process the data of Europeans. But this is no longer going to serve the company in the future, and it knows it. Precisely, a few days ago, it announced the future arrival of a new paid subscription that will allow European users, in exchange for 10 euros per month, to use Facebook and Instagram without ads and, therefore, without the company exploiting their data with commercial purposes. For others, the browsing experience will remain the same as before, but the technology company plans to continue using your browsing habits and information for advertising.
The CEPD has “taken note” of the company’s measure, which will come into operation on November 6, and is studying whether it is a mechanism in accordance with EU data protection regulation.
In a statement sent to ABC, Meta once again emphasizes its future subscription plan, which was born with the defined objective that the company can “meet the regulatory requirements” of Europe. This is also demonstrated by the fact that this new plan, which completely breaks with the spirit of Meta’s business, will only be available on community land.
The company also highlights that “the members of the CEPD have known about this plan for weeks and we were already fully committed to them to reach a satisfactory result for all parties.” In this way, in his opinion, the agency’s order “unjustifiably ignores that careful and solid regulatory process” that was being carried out.
Meta is having to make efforts against the clock to adapt to the numerous technological regulations that are currently being implemented on European soil. According to ‘The Wall Street Journal’, the company has also decided to pause ads on the Facebook and Instagram accounts of European minors due to the Digital Services Law, in operation in the EU since the end of August, which explicitly prohibits the use of children’s data for advertising purposes.
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