The European Court of Justice ruled on Friday that meta platforms must limit the use of personal data gathered from Facebook for targeted advertising, supporting privacy activist Max Schrems.
TakeAway Points:
- The European Court of Justice decided on Friday that meta platforms must limit the use of personal data obtained from Facebook for targeted advertising.
- Schrems took his grievance to an Austrian court, saying he had been targeted by advertisements as a result of Meta’s personalised advertising based on processing personal data.
- Senior leaders from businesses like Google, Wayve, and Brookfield Asset Management will be present at the first international investment summit organised by the new British administration, the government announced on Saturday.
Meta to limit data use for targeted advertising
Schrems took his grievance to an Austrian court, saying he had been targeted by advertisements as a result of Meta’s personalised advertising based on processing personal data.
The Austrian tribunal then sought guidance from the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which on Friday backed Schrems.
“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.
The judges said the principle of data minimisation under EU privacy rules, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), sets this out.
Meta responded by saying it has invested more than 5 billion euros to embed privacy in its products and that it does not use special categories of data that users provide to personalise ads while advertisers are not allowed to share sensitive data.
“Everyone using Facebook has access to a wide range of settings and tools that allow people to manage how we use their information,” a Meta spokesperson said.
Schrems’ lawyer, Katharina Raabe-Stuppnig, welcomed the ruling.
“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. This ruling also applies to any other online advertisement company that does not have stringent data deletion practices,” she said.
Schrems has taken Meta to court a number of times for alleged GDPR breaches.
UK investment summit to feature Google, Wayve and Brookfield
The new British government’s first international investment summit will feature senior executives from companies including Google, Wayve, and Brookfield Asset Management, the government said on Saturday.
The summit, on Oct. 14, is aimed at ramping up foreign direct investment to help improve economic growth, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s primary mission since being elected in July.
Last month, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of X, criticised Britain after reports he had not been invited to the summit.
The government said speakers would include Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer, Alphabet and Google; Alex Kendall, CEO of Wayve; and Bruce Flatt, CEO of Brookfield Asset Management .
It said the event would be sponsored by Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds M&G, Octopus Energy, and TSL Group.
“The event will provide an opportunity for the government to establish enduring partnerships with businesses to boost investment in the UK and to give investors the certainty and confidence they need to drive growth,” the government said in a statement.
It added that Starmer would on Friday convene in Scotland the first Council of Nations and Regions, bringing together the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and regional mayors from across England to discuss investment and growth ahead of the summit.
The government on Friday announced it was investing 21.7 billion pounds ($28 billion) for carbon capture projects.
