On Friday, 4 September 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down a significant judgement that will have far-reaching consequences for online advertising. In Case C-446/21, the CJEU ruled that online social networks cannot use all personal data obtained for the purposes of delivering targeted advertising without time limitations or consideration of what the information relates to. The press release stated that: "The fact that Mr Maximilian Schrems has made a statement about his sexual orientation on the occasion of a public panel discussion does not authorise the operator of an online social network platform to process other data relating to his sexual orientation, obtained, as the case may be, outside that platform, with a view to aggregating and analysing those data, in order to offer him personalised advertising."
While today's ruling will be broadly felt across the online advertising industry, it was largely anticipated after CJEU Advocate General Athanasios Rantos issued a non-binding Opinion on the case in April.
In a statement responding to the news, Katharina Raabe-Stuppnig, a lawyer representing Mr Schrems, said: "Meta has basically been building a huge data pool on users for 20 years now, and it is growing every day. However, EU law requires 'data minimisation'. Following this ruling only a small part of Meta's data pool will be allowed to be used for advertising - even when users consent to ads. This ruling also applies to any other online advertisement company, that does not have stringent data deletion practices."
Additional legal analysis from Pinsent Masons.
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