Meta (formerly Facebook) announced that in the coming months, it will seek the consent of users in the European Economic Area and Switzerland to the use of their personal information for targeted advertising. Meta’s announcement follows judicial and regulatory decisions in Europe, which invalidated the company’s practice of relying on “legitimate interest” as the legal basis to justify processing personal information for targeted advertising purposes, rather than user consent.

Meta’s announcement specifically mentions the decision of the Data Protection Commission in Ireland, which has authority over Meta in Europe. In a decision issued at the beginning of 2023, the Irish Data Protection Commission prohibited Meta from processing personal information for targeted advertising unless explicit user consent is obtained. The Irish Commission also imposed a fine of 390 million Euros. According to Meta, the Digital Markets Act in Europe is another factor that has prompted this change.

Meta indicated that it had listened carefully to the feedback it received from the Irish Commission and subsequently decided to implement this change. Meta plans to release more details regarding these changes in the upcoming months.

Click here to read Meta’s blog post.

Click here to read the decision of the Data Protection Commission in Ireland.