Meta announced today, Tuesday, that it intends to seek user approval in the European Union before allowing companies to target them with advertisements based on what they view on its services like Facebook and Instagram. The company stated that the change aims to meet several increasing regulatory requirements in the region and comes after an order issued by the Data Protection Commissioner in Ireland, who is Meta's main privacy regulator in the EU, in January to reassess the legal basis for targeted advertising. Previously, Facebook and Instagram users were effectively agreeing to allow the use of their data for targeted ads when they accepted the terms and conditions of the platforms, until the regulator decided that personal information could not be processed in that manner.
Meta stated in a post, "We announce our intention today to change the legal basis we use to process certain data for behavioral targeting of individuals in the EU, EEA, and Switzerland from 'legitimate interests' to 'consent'." It added, "There is no immediate impact on our services in the region. Once this change is made, advertisers will still be able to run ad campaigns aimed at reaching potential customers and growing their businesses. We have taken this change into account in our future company forecasts." The company mentioned that it will provide more information on how the process will work in the coming months after further communication with regulators. A spokesperson for the Data Protection Commissioner in Ireland, the main privacy regulator for many of the world's largest technology companies within the EU, stated that they have received correspondence from Meta regarding this issue.
