It seems that social networks such as Facebook✴ will have to reconsider their policies on storing European user data. The European Union’s Supreme Court ruled this week that social media companies can no longer store information about users indefinitely to show them personalized advertising. This decision could have serious consequences for Meta✴, which owns Facebook✴, and for other platforms that rely heavily on advertisers for their revenue.
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Limits on the period of retention of personal information will apply to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Violation of these rules can result in a fine of up to 4% of the violator’s global annual turnover, and in the case of Meta✴ we are talking about billions of dollars. The source notes that Mark Zuckerberg’s company is already at the top of the list of GDPR violators.
Meta✴ spokesman Matt Pollard said the company is awaiting the publication of an official court ruling. “We await the publication of the court’s decision and will be able to share additional information over time. Meta✴ takes privacy very seriously and has invested over €5 billion to put privacy at the core of all our products. Everyone who uses Facebook✴ has access to a wide range of settings and tools that allow people to control how we use their information,” Mr. Pollard said.
It’s no secret that Meta✴ makes money by tracking user activity and creating digital profiles based on the information collected in this way. This data is used to display personalized advertising to users of the Company’s platforms. This means that any restrictions on the ability to continuously use user data in one of the company’s core business regions could negatively impact its revenue.