Meta Platforms Inc. META is staring at a $100,000 fine per day in Norway starting August 4 through November 3 if it does not fix its privacy policy. It could also get even worse for Mark Zuckerberg's company if Europe's Data Protection Board extends the validity of the decision beyond the current three-month period.
What Happened: The Norwegian Data Protection Authority has imposed a three-month ban on Meta's behavioral advertising. If Meta does not comply with the rules, it will be fined $100,000 for each day of non-compliance between August 4 and November 3.
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“It is so clear that this is illegal that we need to intervene now and immediately,” said Tobias Judin, head of Norway’s privacy commission, Datatilsynet.
During these three months, Meta is banned from advertising on the basis of location, behavior, and other parameters. A December 2022 ruling by the Irish Data Protection Commission banned Meta from running advertisements based on this behavioral data.
However, despite this, Meta continued to show behavioral advertisements, according to a decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The Norwegian Data Protection Authority's ban announced on Monday is based on the findings of this decision, said Datatilsynet.
Why Is This Important: Advertising accounted for 97.5% of Meta's total revenue in 2022, at $113.64 billion.
The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation has also resulted in Meta preventing European users from accessing its latest app, Threads.
While the ruling does not ban Meta from showing advertisements on Facebook and Instagram, it forbids the company from showing behavioral ads – Norway's privacy commission says that this could influence the behavior of people, reinforcing some stereotypes or leading to unfair discrimination.
"Behavioural targeting of political adverts in election campaigns is particularly problematic from a democratic perspective," the commission said.
Meta can still show personalized ads based on information revealed by the users themselves, like their place of residence, gender, age, or interests provided by the users.
Image Credit – Pixabay
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