Meta fined over $400m for EU advertising violations

Meta was recently fined around $400 million for problems associated with advertising to European Union citizens.

Meta fined for violating EU consumers

A long-standing legal saga between Meta, the European Union, and Ireland ended spectacularly today, with Ireland imposing fines of about $414 million on Meta. According to reports, Meta was charged for allegedly illegally requiring its clientele to adhere to some targeted, personalized ads.

The breakdown of the fines indicates that Meta will pay a fine of $223 million for violations connected to Facebook and a further $191 million for violations connected to Instagram.

In November, the Irish Data Protection Commission fined Meta €265 million for target scraping. The accusations date back to 2018, when complaints were made that Meta did not adhere to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) rules.

The accusers argue that Meta’s terms of service language were so complex that users had insufficient clarity about what was happening with their data. The GDPR rules stipulate that businesses must not keep any personal info without citizens’ permission.

The massive fines could be a future indicator of bans on targeted advertising. However, this ruling could force Meta to change its advertising policy, especially in the European Union. 

The recent conclusion between the parties involved means that Meta must now remove the data consent requirement from its terms of use. However, Meta is already planning to appeal the decision, noting that their two social networks are inherently personalized.

Meta’s failed advances in web3 

The company Meta has, in the recent past, been making speedy advancements to the web3 landscape. Starting with the launch of their failed stablecoin Libra, Facebook later rebranded to Meta in 2021.

However, even their Metaverse quest has been failing miserably since its inception. There was massive criticism when the company rebranded to Meta, with many feeling that the idea was nonsensical. 

The Twitter account of The Daily Show posted that no one asked for the Facebook upgrade. 

In another critique, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, tweeted;

‘Meta as in “we are a cancer to democracy metastasizing into a global surveillance and propaganda machine for boosting authoritarian regimes and destroying civil society… for profit!”’

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, US House of Representatives.

However, despite the discouragement and backlash, Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s CEO, still maintains his metaverse ambitions.