The European Union’s top court ruled that Meta, the company behind Facebook, must reduce the amount of data it uses for personalized ads. The case was brought by privacy advocate Max Schrems, who complained that Facebook showed him ads targeted at gay people even though he never shared his sexual orientation on the platform.
The Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU) said that under EU data protection laws, companies like Meta cannot use personal information without limits for targeted ads, especially sensitive data like someone’s health, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.
Meta responded that it does not use sensitive information for ads and is awaiting the full judgment. The company claims to take privacy seriously and has spent over five billion euros on improving privacy in its services.
Experts noted that this decision shows that data protection rules have real power, especially for big tech companies. Although the ruling doesn’t directly apply to UK courts, it could still lead to similar challenges in other countries.
Max Schrems’ case is expected to influence how Meta and other companies handle personal data in the future.
(Source: BBC)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gr4r5ln03o