In a case that might have broader European repercussions, Norway’s data authority informed a court on Wednesday that Meta Platform is violating European data privacy standards.
Since August 14, Meta has been fined one million crowns ($94,145) every day for violating users’ privacy by gathering user data and utilizing it to target advertising at them.
Big Tech uses a business strategy known as behavioural advertising.
The owners of Facebook and Instagram are seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the ruling, which levies a daily fee for the next three months, from being implemented.
The fine is legal since Meta is not complying with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to Hanne Inger Bjurstroem Jahren, a lawyer for the regulator, Datatilsynet.
“There is no debate about whether the corporation violated these standards… “Today, Meta violates GDPR rules,” she told the court on the final day of a two-day hearing.
On Tuesday, Meta informed the court that it had previously committed to requesting user consent and that Datatilsynet employed an “expedited process” that was unnecessary and did not allow the firm enough time to respond.
The regulator stated that it was unclear when and how Meta would seek user consent and that users’ rights were being violated in the meantime.
Datatilsynet might make the fine permanent by sending its judgement to the European Data Protection Board, which has the authority to do so if it agrees with the decision of the Norwegian regulator.
This may potentially broaden the decision’s territorial scope to include the whole of Europe. This step had yet to be taken by Datatilsynet.
Norway is not a member of the European Union, although it does participate in the European Union’s single market.
