After more than five years of extensive litigation by noyb, the German Kartellamt and decisions by the EDPB and CJEU it seems that Meta finally complies with EU privacy laws. The company announced it will ask its users for consent before showing behavioral ads in the future. It is uncelar if Meta fully applies the consent requirement. noyb will follow up with litigation if the GDPR is not fully implemented by Meta.
Meta might finally buckle. On Tuesday, Meta announced its intention to change the legal basis used "to process certain data for behavioural advertising" for people living in the European Union and Switzerland from "legitimate interest" to "consent". Although we have to wait to see the details, we might finally see some progress in the protection of the user's data privacy. Depending on Meta's implementation of this change, people living in the EU could for the first time gain some control over their data.
No way out. While the social media corporations' PR department talks about a supposedly new GDPR interpretation by the Irish DPC that resulted in the upcoming adaptation, the reality is much more unpleasent for Meta. Following two noyb complaints from 2018, the EDPB decided earlier this year, that it is forbidden to Meta to use personal data for advertising. Furthermore, the CJEU decided in July, that company is not allowed to use personal data beyond what is strictly necessary to provide its core products. Although the Irish DPC hasn't yet enforced these decisions, there seems to be no way out anymore.
Only 5 years after? That was fast.