Spanish court orders Meta to pay $552M for privacy violations

A Madrid court ordered Meta to pay 481 million euros (about $552 million) to Spanish media outlets. The court found Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, broke European privacy laws for five years by using personal data without proper user consent between May 2018 and August 2023. This gave Meta a big advantage in the online ad market and hurt Spanish media’s ad revenue.
The lawsuit was led by Spain's main media group, representing top newspapers. Judges said Meta earned billions in ad revenue from these unfair practices