Meta to give EU users more options for data handling

Meta Platforms Inc announced on Thursday that it will alter the legal basis of how Facebook and Instagram use personal data to target advertising within the European Union (EU). This decision comes after the Privacy Regulator of the EU fined Meta for alleged data breaches in January. The move aims to provide EU users with more options regarding their data and is not expected to affect the company’s profitable targeted-advertising business in the region.

Earlier this year, the social media giant was fined €390 million ($425.72 million) by Ireland’s Data Privacy Commissioner and instructed not to use the so-called “contract” legal basis for sending users adverts based on their online actions. To comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Meta will now use “Legitimate Interests” instead of “Contractual Necessity.”

The GDPR’s contractual basis enables companies to obtain data when such information is necessary to fulfill a contract. On the other hand, “Legitimate Interests” grant companies permission to use personal data in ways that individuals could reasonably foresee.

Meta stated in a blog post, “We believe that our previous approach was compliant under GDPR, and our appeal on both the substance of the rulings and the fines continues.”

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Meta plans to allow Facebook and Instagram users within the EU to opt-out of certain highly tailored advertisements, providing them with an option that will target them solely based on general categories. According to the Financial Times, Meta might ban political ads in their entirety in Europe, owing to concerns that Facebook and Instagram will be unable to comply with the EU’s new laws governing online campaigns. Meta declined to comment on any potential changes to political advertisements.

($1 = 0.9161 euros)

(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh and Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Subhranshu Sahu, and Shinjini Ganguli)

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