Did Mark Zuckerberg’s company Meta (which includes Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) violate the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and consequently deny French media their rightful advertising revenue? This question underpins a lawsuit initiated on Wednesday, April 22, by 200 French media organizations at the Paris Economic Activities Tribunal, accusing the American corporation of engaging in ‘illegal practices.’
The plaintiffs, which include private broadcasters TF1 and RMC-BFM, public broadcasters France Télévisions and Radio France, as well as press groups Le Figaro and Les Echos-Le Parisien, along with regional newspapers, claim that Meta took advantage of the time when they were securing user consent for data collection to conduct targeted advertising. Their legal representatives, Didier Théophile and Christine Schiffner from the Paris law firm Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier and the American firm Scott+Scott, assert that the media organizations are accusing the American company of ‘targeting advertisements based on the extensive and unlawful collection of users’ personal data.’
They seek to ‘secure compensation for the significant economic damage (…) inflicted by the unfair business practices of the American giant,’ as stated by the lawyers.
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