A date has been set for Meta to face a €550 million lawsuit in Spanish court next year. The Association of Information Media, representing 90 Spanish media outlets, accuses Facebook’s parent company of violating E.U. data protection laws. Meta allegedly built its advertising empire by unlawfully collecting and using European users’ personal data without their explicit consent between May 2018 and July 2023, violating the General Data Protection Regulation. According to Regulation (EU) 2016/679, user consent must be granted before processing their personal data for advertising purposes, but Meta has ignored this. AMI contends that 100% of Meta’s revenue from targeted advertising was earned with data obtained through “systemic and massive non-compliance.” This gave it an illegitimate advantage when selling digital advertising space, jeopardising smaller media outlets in Spain. The sum being demanded is compensation for their lost revenue. AMI argues that Meta’s dominance in the industry has prevented the fair monetization of news content from media companies. It filed the lawsuit late last year, with the preliminary hearing taking place on Nov. 27, 2024. …