OSLO, Norway – Norway’s data protection authority, Datatilsynet, has banned Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, from using personal user information for targeted advertising.
Noncompliance with the ruling could result in a daily fine of $100,000.
The ban, which begins on August 4, 2023, and lasts for three months, allows Meta to adjust its operations in compliance with the order.
Big tech companies in the US, including Meta, are under close watch throughout Europe over privacy concerns, with significant fines being imposed in recent years.
Datatilsynet highlighted Meta’s use of data such as user locations, liked content, and posts for marketing purposes, deeming these practices illegal.
However, the agency clarified that the ruling is neither a ban on the operation of Facebook and Instagram in Norway nor a general prohibition on behavioural advertising.
Austrian digital privacy campaign group, noyb, which has filed several complaints against Meta’s activities, hailed the decision as a significant initial step and expressed hope that data regulators in other countries will adopt a similar stance.
“We will analyse the decision… but there is no immediate effect on our services,” Meta responded to the ruling.
Meta experienced a significant blow earlier this year when European regulators dismissed the legal foundation the company had used to justify collecting users’ data for use in targeted advertising.
This month, the company faced another significant setback when the European Court of Justice rejected Meta’s various workaround strategies, empowering antitrust regulators to consider data privacy issues.
Battle of the Threads: Twitter Sets Legal Sights on Meta Over New Social App
Twitter, the social media powerhouse, has reportedly drawn the battle lines as it threatens legal action against Meta Platforms, Inc., the tech behemoth behind Facebook, over the launch of its Threads app.
Twitter alleges that Meta’s new app, which facilitates threaded conversations among users, blatantly pilfers Twitter’s core functionality and intellectual property.
Threads, launched on Thursday, July 6, 2023, by Meta as a new addition to its social networking suite, allows its users to engage in detailed threaded conversations.
This has drawn the ire of Twitter, as it resembles Twitter’s signature ability for users to reply and create conversations based on existing tweets.
Alex Spiro, legal counsel for Twitter, made public a strongly-worded letter to Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
“Twitter has serious concerns that Meta Platforms has engaged in systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property,” Spiro wrote in the letter, which Semafor published.
Spiro pulls no punches in the letter as he lays down Twitter’s intent.
“Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information,” he asserted.
But it doesn’t stop there. Spiro further contends that Meta allegedly plotted to recruit former Twitter employees.
These employees, according to Spiro, “had and continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information”.
He alleges that Meta strategically placed these individuals in roles developing the Threads app, leveraging Twitter’s trade secrets to expedite Threads’ development, violating both state and federal laws in addition to these employees’ obligations to Twitter.
“Twitter reserves all rights, including, but not limited to, the right to seek both civil remedies and injunctive relief without further notice to prevent any further retention, disclosure, or use of its intellectual property by Meta,” Spiro further threatened in the letter.
This latest skirmish between Twitter and Meta has sent shockwaves through the tech industry.
Analysts are keenly watching the developments to gauge the impact on companies and the social media landscape.
As of now, Meta has not publicly responded to the allegations.
Legal experts predict this could be the opening salvo in a prolonged legal tussle between the two social media titans.
When reached for comment, a representative from Twitter reaffirmed the company’s commitment to protecting its intellectual property.
“We will not stand idle while our innovations and secrets are siphoned off,” the representative said.
The Threads app and its controversy will be closely watched as this legal drama unfolds.
