The Spanish Media Association filed a lawsuit against Meta for more than 550 million euros.

CTOnews.com, December 4, the Spanish Media Association (AMI), on behalf of 83 Spanish media, launched a lawsuit against Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.

They allege that Meta systematically and massively violated European data protection regulations between May 25, 2018 and at least July 31, 2023, and claim 550 million euros (CTOnews.com Note: currently approximately RMB 4.273 billion).

Tuyuan Pexels said in a statement that it had filed an unfair competition lawsuit with the Madrid Commercial Court "due to Meta's insistence on violating the requirements of the European data Protection Commission on October 27, 2023" and that the association reserved the possibility of expanding the scope of the lawsuit.

AMI also stressed that "Meta has repeatedly failed to comply with Community data protection legislation, ignoring regulatory requirements that citizens must agree to use their data for advertising profiling, as can be seen in different resolutions of European agencies responsible for the issue".

They point out that Meta's actions mean that "the technology giant earns 100 per cent of its revenue from selling segmented ads illegally. Without the consent of users, Meta systematically and extensively uses user personal data on its platform to track user information, which allows the US company to maintain an edge in the market on the basis of illegal competitive advantage."