Facebook mother Meta stands before the European Court of Justice Fan calls in sick and dresses as a ghost for Taylor Swift concert

Facebook’s parent company Meta has suffered a defeat before the highest European court. The European Court of Justice (CJEU) ruled on Tuesday in Luxembourg that cartel authorities may also check compliance with data protection regulations in their competition investigations.

When users log in to Facebook, they agree to the general terms and conditions of use as well as the guidelines for the use of data and so-called cookies. Accordingly, Meta collects data about the activities inside and outside the platform and assigns it to the Facebook accounts of the users.

The data outside the social network relates, on the one hand, to information about access to third-party websites and, on the other hand, to data about the use of other platforms that also belong to the metagroup, such as Instagram and WhatsApp. The goal was to personalize ads for Facebook.

In 2019, the German Federal Cartel Office banned the processing of such data without users’ consent. This is contrary to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Meta is abusing its dominant position in the market.

Facebook defended itself before the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. It now asked the ECJ whether national competition authorities may investigate to what extent data processing meets the requirements of the GDPR. The ECJ has now confirmed this.

According to the judges, other regulations outside competition law may also be used when assessing whether a company is abusing its dominant position. The dominant position is an important aspect in assessing whether the consent to data processing was voluntary and therefore effective. The data processing cannot be justified by the fact that Meta finances itself with personalized advertisements. Now the national court has to decide on the specific case. (saw/sda/awp/dpa)