A coalition representing 83 prominent Spanish media outlets has launched a legal offensive against Meta, parent company of social media giant Facebook. The AMI newspaper publishing association spearheaded the initiative, filing a substantial EUR 550 million (USD 598 million) lawsuit on Friday in a commercial court, alleging Meta's engagement in unfair competition within the advertising market.
The media conglomerate, which includes major players like Prisa, the publisher of Spain's leading newspaper El Pais, and Vocento, owner of ABC and other influential media entities, accused Meta of leveraging user data from its Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms on a massive and systematic scale. The coalition contended that this practice provides Meta with an unjust advantage in crafting and delivering personalised advertisements.
At the core of the complaint is the assertion that Meta's advertising strategy relies heavily on the utilisation of personal data without explicit consent from users, thereby violating established data protection regulations. The coalition argues that Meta's tailored advertisements, derived from this contentious use of personal data, create an environment of unfair competition in the advertising landscape.
This legal confrontation marks the second instance of Spanish media taking a stand against tech giants encroaching on their territory.
(Inputs from Reuters)