Which user data are internet companies allowed to use? The European Court of Justice ruled on this and limited the ability of Facebook parent company Meta to further process personal data from third-party providers.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has put a stop to the processing of certain personal user data by Facebook parent company Meta. “An online social network like Facebook is not allowed to use all personal data indefinitely and without distinguishing between their types,” the judges wrote in their ruling. They followed the recommendation of Attorney General Athanasios Rantos in April.
Not all data can be used for targeted advertising
The Austrian data protection activist Maximilian Schrems had sued against the processing of his personal data, particularly regarding his sexual orientation. Schrems made the latter public during a panel discussion. The ECJ ruled that this public information could be processed for targeted advertising in compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). “However, this circumstance alone does not authorize the processing of other personal data relating to the sexual orientation of that person.”
In concrete terms, this means: Even if someone makes their sexual orientation public, Facebook is not allowed to process any further data about their sexual orientation that other providers have made available to Facebook for the purpose of personalized advertising. Schrems and the data protection group “None Of Your Business” (NOYB), which he leads, have filed complaints and initiated proceedings against several internet companies.
Schrems was satisfied with today’s verdict: “Companies now have to think about a deletion concept for the data they have collected and think about what data they have collected in recent years they can keep,” he told the news agency Reuters.
Case number: C-446/21