A Spanish court has issued a landmark ruling against Meta, ordering the parent company of Facebook and Instagram to pay 479 million euros ($552 million) to 87 Spanish digital media outlets. The Madrid Commercial Court found the tech giant guilty of unfair competition and infringing the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The court ruled that Meta obtained a “significant competitive advantage” in Spain’s online advertising market by unlawfully processing user data for behavioural advertising on its platforms. The compensation is to be distributed among the affected news publishers and agencies.
Meta has immediately contested the decision, announcing its intention to appeal. A company spokesperson stated, “This is a baseless claim that lacks any evidence of alleged harm and wilfully ignores how the online advertising industry works.” The spokesperson further emphasised that Meta complies with all applicable laws and provides users with transparent choices and control over their experience.
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The legal complaint centred on Meta’s change in legal justification for processing personal data following the GDPR’s entry into force in May 2018. The company shifted from relying on user consent to claiming “necessity for the performance of a contract” to justify its behavioural advertising practices—a basis that regulators later deemed inadequate. Meta only reverted to using consent as its legal foundation in August 2023.
The judge estimated that during the five-year period in question, Meta earned at least 5.3 billion euros in advertising profits, treating the entire amount as obtained in violation of the GDPR. This ruling is the latest in a series of regulatory challenges Meta faces in Europe. A similar claim is currently under review in France, and last year the European Commission fined Meta nearly 800 million euros for anti-competitive practices related to its Facebook Marketplace service.
The Spanish government has also launched a separate parliamentary investigation into allegations that Meta used a hidden mechanism to track the web activity of Android device users, with the company stating it will cooperate with officials on the matter.
