Meta shouldn't use sexuality data for targeted ads, EU top court rules

Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems claimed Facebook peppered him with targeted ads after he disclosed his sexual orientation at a public panel

Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook shouldn’t exploit public information on a users’ sexual orientation for targeted advertising, the bloc’s top court has ruled.

A logo of US tech company Meta is displayed during the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair, at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris on May 22, 2024.(Julien De Rosa/AFP)

In the social network’s latest legal battle with Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems, the EU’s Court of Justice said Facebook can’t process data relating to a users’ sexuality for the purpose of targeted ads, despite Schrems making his sexual orientation publicly known.

Schrems claimed Facebook peppered him with targeted ads after he disclosed his sexual orientation at a public panel.

“Following this ruling only a small part of Meta’s data pool will be allowed to be used for advertising — even when users consent to ads,” said Katharina Raabe-Stuppnig, a lawyer representing Schrems.

The EU top tribunal weighed in after Austria’s supreme court asked it for guidance on the application of the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation — or GDPR.

Facebook has come under further regulatory scrutiny for how it it tracks its users’ internet browsing and smartphone apps for the purpose of targeted advertising, under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which took full effect earlier this year. It also came in for a record €1.2 billion privacy fine last year from the Irish data protection watchdog, for illegally shipping European users’ data to the US.

The case number is C-446/21.