Spain’s data watchdog blocks two EU election tools from Meta’s Instagram, Facebook

Spain’s data protection watchdog AEPD has ordered the provisional suspension of two planned Meta products set to be deployed in the upcoming European election on its social media platforms Instagram and Facebook, it said on Friday.

The tools, named “Election Day Information” (EDI) and “Voter Information Unit” (VIU), would potentially violate the Spanish data protection regulation (GDPR), AEPD said.

“Our election tools have been expressly designed to respect users’ privacy and comply with the GDPR. While we disagree with the AEPD’s assessment in this case, we have cooperated with their request,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters.