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Spanish Court Orders Meta to Pay €479 Million to Local Media in Data Privacy Dispute

By  |  November 20, 2025

A Spanish commercial court has directed Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to compensate Spanish digital media organisations with 479 million euros ($552 million) over what judges deemed unfair competitive practices and violations of European Union data protection rules. The decision will be appealed by the company, according to Reuters.

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    The ruling, issued by Madrid’s Commercial Court, awards compensation to 87 online publishers and news agencies. The court found that Meta’s handling of personal data for targeted advertising on its platforms gave it a “significant competitive advantage” in Spain’s digital advertising market, per Reuters. According to the judgment, Meta unlawfully processed user information, thereby breaching the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as Spain’s antitrust legislation.

    The complaint from Spanish media groups centred on Meta’s shift in legal justification for processing personal data when the GDPR came into force in 2018. The company moved from relying on user consent to citing “necessity for the performance of a contract” for behavioural ad targeting—an approach regulators later deemed insufficient. Meta switched back to a consent-based model in August 2023.

    The judge estimated that Meta generated at least 5.3 billion euros in advertising profits during the five-year period in question and considered the full amount to have been earned while in breach of GDPR, according to Reuters. A comparable legal action is currently underway in France.

    Related: FTC Loses Bid to Break Up Meta After Court Rules Against Antitrust Claims

    This latest ruling adds to a series of regulatory setbacks for the tech giant in Europe. Last year, the European Commission imposed a fine of nearly 800 million euros for tying Facebook Marketplace to the Facebook platform and for implementing what regulators described as unfair trading conditions.

    Spain’s government has also taken aim at Meta’s data practices. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that a parliamentary committee would look into claims that Meta used a hidden mechanism to track browsing behaviour on Android devices. The company has said it will cooperate with Spanish authorities. “This is a baseless claim that lacks any evidence of alleged harm and wilfully ignores how the online advertising industry works,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement sent to Reuters. “Meta complies with all applicable laws and has provided clear choices, transparent information and given users a range of tools to control their experience on our services,” the spokesperson added.