Spanish media association files $600 Million lawsuit against Meta over unfair ads

A consortium representing 83 Spanish media organisations announced on Monday the filing of a 550-million-euro ($598 million) lawsuit against Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, citing allegations of unfair competition in the advertising market. The AMI newspaper publishing association lodged the lawsuit in a commercial court last Friday, according to a statement released by the association on Monday. The newspapers said Meta’s “massive” and “systematic” use of personal data from the users of its Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp platforms allows it to get an unfair advantage in designing and offering personalized ads that constitute unfair competition. The complainants, comprising Prisa (PRS.MC) - which publishes Spain’s main newspaper El Pais - and Vocento (VOC.MC), the owner of ABC and other media, as well as other privately-owned groups, said most of the ads placed by Meta use personal data obtained without express consent from clients and thus violate data protection rules. Meta’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The complaint is the second time Spanish media are challenging tech companies to protect their turf. In 2014, the Spanish government forced the closure of Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google News service until 2022 when new legislation allowing media outlets to negotiate directly with the tech giant was passed. With inputs from Reuters.