EU regulators have ruled: Facebook and Instagram may no longer show personalized ads to users within the European Union. The decision was made after the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) found that Meta, the platforms' parent company, did not comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (AVG) when serving these ads.
Unlawful data processing by Meta
In addition, the EDPB found that Meta was unlawfully processing personal data. Meta builds user profiles from various data such as posts, residence, age and interactions to provide advertisers with targeted advertising options. However, the justification for this processing remains insufficient, according to the EDPB.
In doing so, the Personal Data Authority in the Netherlands, as a member of the EDPB, indicated that Meta was collecting personal data without a legal basis. The partnership has now instructed the Irish Data Protection Commission to take action against Meta within two weeks.
Meta's attempt at compliance
Just two days before this ruling, Meta introduced an ad-free subscription to comply with the AVG. But according to the EDPB, this new subscription model and the option for users to give explicit consent to the collection of their data is not enough.
This decision by EU regulators marks an important moment for user privacy protection on Facebook and Instagram in Europe. It highlights the growing importance of complying with privacy laws and respecting individual privacy rights.
Prepare for a cookieless era
Finally, we are keeping a close eye on developments to see how this decision will change how Facebook and Instagram, among others, approach personal data. It confirms the trend where third parties are increasingly required to limit data collection. In preparation for this, we have been collecting first-party data based on user behavior for years, which we then use in ad campaigns. Partly because of these recent developments, it appears that this is an essential part of the rapidly approaching cookieless era.
