EU top court sides with activist Schrems in privacy dispute with Meta

Europe’s top court on Friday sided with Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems in his privacy dispute with Meta Platforms.

Schrems had taken his grievance to an Austrian court, saying he had been targeted by advertisements directed at homosexuals as a result of Meta’s personalised advertising based on processing of personal data.

The court subsequently sought guidance from the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

“An online social network such as Facebook cannot use all of the personal data obtained for the purposes of targeted advertising, without restriction as to time and without distinction as to type of data,” the CJEU said, referring to Meta’s social network Facebook.

Schrems has taken Meta to court a number of times for alleged breaches of the EU’s privacy law known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The case is C-446/21 Schrems (Communication of data to the general public).