Privacy Violation: Setback for Meta, EU top court ruling in favor of competition regulator on data collection

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Tuesday upheld the decision of the European Union (EU) competition regulator, in a case related to the collection of user data and violation of privacy, in a major blow to Meta, in which Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp Owner Meta Inc. was told that antitrust (competition regulatory) authorities also have the right to assess cases related to privacy violations.

Meta challenged a decision by the German Cartel Office in 2019, which asked Meta to stop collecting users’ data without their consent. The German regulator termed this practice by Meta as an abuse of market power. The European Union’s Luxembourg-based Court of Justice has ruled that the German antitrust agency has not violated jurisdiction by using its antitrust power to address data protection concerns, but has taken appropriate action under national data protection rights.

Amazon, Google, Apple, Meta and Microsoft to become EU gatekeepers
Brussels. Amazon, Google, Apple, Meta and Microsoft have declared themselves eligible for EU Gatekeeper status under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) implemented by the European Commission. EU trade chief Thierry Breton said on Tuesday that the DMA, implemented in November last year, granted gatekeeper status to provide core platforms to companies with 45 million active monthly users and a turnover of 75 billion euros or more. Will go

10% fine for violation of rules
Companies with Gatekeeper status must make their apps interoperable with those of competitors. These companies can be fined up to 10% of global turnover for breach of DMA.