Forced Consent (DPAs in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Ireland)
When relying on consent as a legal basis to process personal data, companies need to comply with the stringent requirements contained in the GDPR. In May 2018, noyb filed four complaints; in France against Google, in Austria against Facebook, in Belgium against Instagram and in Germany against Whatsapp. The reason for this was that these major companies adopted a “take it or leave it” approach, forcing their users to consent to both their privacy policies and terms in full, in order to keep using their services.
In January 2019, following our complaint the French supervisory authority (CNIL) imposed a 50 million euro fine on Google over the company’s invalid consent mechanisms. The sanction was appealed and a hearing date before the French Conseil d’Etat is yet to be set. All three other complaints (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) triggered the European cooperation mechanism and are still being investigated today. We are carefully monitoring the cooperation between the Irish DPC and its counterparts and are hoping to hear back from our latest submissions in the near future.
Complaint against Facebook. IMI case number: 44443
Complaint against Instagram. IMI case number: 66385
Relevant articles
Irish Data Protection Authority gives € 3.97 billion present to Meta.
Jan 17, 2023 The DPC has turned a blind eye on the revenue generated by Meta from violating the GDPR since 2018. Ignoring the EDPB demand to include the unlawful revenue of Meta, reduced the fine by 3,97 Mrd EUR.
Meta Advertising Ban - Decision Published
Jan 11, 2023 You can now read the details of the DPC decision! It seems interesting times lie before us in the Courts!
BREAKING: Meta prohibited from use of personal data for advertising
Jan 04, 2023 After almost five years, the Irish DPC decided on a noyb complaint and required Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to stop using the personal data of users for advertisement in the EU.
noyb win: Personalized Ads on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp declared illegal
Dez 06, 2022 The EDPB has decided that three Meta Apps (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) did not have a legal basis to process user data since May 2018. Meta's legal trick has been rejected.
Irish DPC burns taxpayer money over delay cases
Apr 28, 2022 Irish DPC settles delay case with noyb before Irish High Court, agreeing to pay legal costs in the tenthousands over needing almost four years to issue a first draft decision.