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| Spain has banned Meta from launching election features on Facebook and Instagram ahead of the European Parliament elections due to concerns over GDPR violations, including unauthorized data collection. Meta denies the allegations but will comply with the ban |
As the European alections approach in July 2024 Spain has taken a drastic step by banning Meta from launcing election features on Facebook and Instagram. This decision stems from concerns that these features would collect voter data in Spain.
The spain Data Protection Authority (AEPD) has exercised its emergency power to protect the privacy of local useds. Meta has confirmed its compliance with this order, which can last up to three months, according to a report from TechCrunch On Monday, June 4, 2024
The AEPD has ordered Meta to suspend the implementation of the Election Day information and Voter information Unit features in Spain. They also banned the collection and processing of data implied in their use. The AEPD used the emergency powers granted by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to address local concerns.
Meta is primarily overseen by the Irish Data Protection Commission For GDPR compliance. However, pan-European regulations empower any data protection authority to act when they see an urgent risk to users in their region.
The AEPD is concerned that Meta's planned election-related features would violate GDPR, particularly regarding the legitimacy of processing and data minimization requirements. Political views are classified as special category data under EU regulations, requiring a high standard of explicit user consent for processing.
Meta intended to process personal data including usernames, ip address, age , gender and information on how users interact with election-related features. The AEPD believes that the planned data collection and retention by Meta would seriously jeopardize the right and freedoms of Instagram and Facebook users, potentially leading to increased data volume collected about them and enabling more complex and detailed profiling.
Meta spokesperson Matthew Plolard responded "Our election tools are specifically designed to respect user privacy and comply with GDPR. While we disagree with the AEPD's assesment in this case, we have cooperated with their request."
The ban applies to all Meta service users eligible to vote in the European elections, except in Italy, wherr data protection authorities have an open procedure on this issue. In 2022, the Italian Data Protection Authority also used urgency procedures to request information from Meta regarding measures taken around their national elections.
Meta is also under scrutiny from the European Commission regarding its readiness for the upcoming European elections. In April, the Commission opened an investigation into Facebook and Instagram under the bloc's Digital Service Act, suspecting the platforms of violating election integrity rules for major platforms.
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