Alexander Lewis 
Dec 05, 2023
A coalition of 83 Spanish media organisations has lodged a 550 million euro ($600m) lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Facebook.
The legal action revolves around allegations of unfair competition in the advertising sector, Reuters cited a source familiar with the matter.
Following the Spanish case, several countries earlier this year, including Canada, have imposed regulations to make internet giants pay for news.
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Announcing the lawsuit on Monday, the AMI media association in an official statement revealed that the collective legal action was formally submitted by the newspapers to a commercial court last Friday.
The lawsuit states that Meta violated European Union data protection regulations spanning the period from 2018 to 2023.
The newspapers further added that Meta's extensive and organised utilisation of personal data from users across its all platforms creates an unjust advantage in crafting and presenting personalised advertisements.
As per the complainants, including media giants Prisa, the publisher of Spain's prominent newspaper El Pais, a significant portion of Meta's advertisements relies on personal data acquired without explicit consent from users.
They argued that such practices violate the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, which has been in effect since May 2018. The regulation demands that websites seek authorisation before collecting and utilising personal data.
"Of course, in any other EU country, the same legal proceeding could be initiated" as it concerns an alleged violation of European regulations, Nicolas Gonzalez Cuellar, a lawyer representing the newspapers, told Reuters.
All over the world, media organisations have struggled in courts and parliaments to make tech giants pay fair fees for using and sharing their content.
Earlier, Spanish media has achieved triumph against Alphabet's Google News service. The government had initially closed down the service in 2014 and revived it in 2022 under updated legislation.
