In a landmark ruling that intensifies regulatory pressure on Big Tech firms in Europe, a Spanish commercial court has ordered Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to pay €479 million ($552 million) to 87 Spanish digital media organizations. The decision follows accusations that Meta gained an unlawful competitive advantage by violating the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Spain’s antitrust laws.

Court: Meta Used Personal Data Illegally for Advertising

According to Madrid’s Commercial Court, Meta engaged in unfair competition by using personal data harvested from Spanish users to conduct behavioral advertising across Facebook and Instagram—without adhering to GDPR requirements. The court found that Meta’s handling of personal data directly undermined fair advertising practices in Spain’s digital media market.

The ruling highlights that Meta’s user-data collection model allowed it to obtain a “significant competitive advantage” over local publishers that rely on compliant and more costly data practices.

Meta has not yet issued a public response to the court’s decision.

Violation Rooted in Meta’s Shift Away from User Consent

The case stems from a complaint filed by Spanish publishers after Meta shifted its legal basis for processing personal data in May 2018, when the GDPR first took effect. Instead of relying on explicit user consent, Meta switched to a justification it described as “necessity for the performance of a contract.”

European regulators later ruled that this basis was invalid for behavioral advertising.

Although Meta reverted to a consent-based approach in August 2023, the court calculated that the company earned at least €5.3 billion in advertising profit during the five-year period in which the data processing method violated the GDPR. The judge treated the entire profit amount as improperly obtained.

A similar lawsuit against Meta is currently under review in France.

Part of Ongoing Scrutiny Across Europe

This ruling adds to a growing list of European enforcement actions targeting the social media giant. Last year, the European Commission fined Meta nearly €800 million for anticompetitive practices related to Facebook Marketplace.

Spain’s government has also sharpened its focus on Meta’s privacy practices. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that lawmakers will investigate allegations that the company secretly tracked the web activity of Android users using undisclosed technology. Meta has said it will cooperate with Spanish authorities.

The €479 million compensation must be distributed among 87 digital press publishers and news agencies, although Meta retains the right to appeal the decision.