The European Union's Court of Justice has imposed a ban on specific personal data handling activities carried out by Facebook's parent company, Meta.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has impeded Meta from perpetually handling specific user personal data. As stated in their decision released on Friday, "A platform similar to a social network, such as Facebook, cannot perpetually utilize all personal data without consideration of its nature," the judges wrote. This decision was in line with the advice provided by Advocate General Athanasios Rantos in April.
Maximilian Schrems, an Austrian privacy advocate, brought a case against the processing of his personal data, including his sexual orientation, which he had openly disclosed during a public discussion. However, the ECJ ruled that his sexual orientation information could be used for targeted advertising under the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Nonetheless, "this fact by itself does not legitimize the processing of other personal data concerning this individual's sexual orientation," the court clarified.
Schrems and his organization, "None Of Your Business" (NOYB), have lodged complaints against various tech giants and initiated legal proceedings.
In response to Schrems' complaints, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has not automatically granted permission to utilize other personal data related to an individual's sexual orientation for targeted advertising. Despite the ECJ allowing the use of sexual orientation information for targeted advertising, NOYB, led by Schrems, continues to challenge various tech giants in legal proceedings.
