A Spanish court has directed Meta (NASDAQ:META) to pay €479 million to a group of 87 digital publishers and news agencies, according to an official court statement released Wednesday.
The judge concluded that Meta obtained a “significant competitive advantage” by serving targeted advertising on Facebook and Instagram in a manner that violated the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The decision partially sided with the coalition of Spanish digital media outlets, which accused Meta of unlawfully processing personal data from Facebook and Instagram users that is protected under EU privacy rules.
In its ruling, the court noted that Meta Ireland — the entity responsible for Meta’s operations in Spain — did not provide the financial records of its Spanish business during the course of the proceedings, a detail the judge highlighted in the case documents.