Meta has come under the fire of Norway’s data regulator, the Norwegian Data Protection Authority. The agency is saying that Meta’s practice of tracking users across Instagram and Facebook, and then using that information for marketing purposes, violates their privacy.
If Meta doesn’t address the violations by August 4, the company will be fined 1,000,000 NOK ($100,000 USD) each day until November 3. The agency says that it believes the three-month period is necessary given that “the criteria for acting urgently in this case are fulfilled.”
“Users are profiled based on where they are, what type of content they show interest in and what they publish, amongst others. These personal profiles are used for marketing purposes – so called behavioural advertising,” the agency wrote about Meta’s violations. “The Norwegian Data Protection Authority considers that the practice of Meta is illegal and is therefore imposing a temporary ban of behavioural advertising on Facebook and Instagram.”
Users located in Norway will still be able to use Instagram and Facebook. The move also doesn’t ban personalized advertising, which allows companies to target ads based on gender, age, location or interests – information a user has voluntarily supplied.
Following the period, the Norwegian Data Protection Authority may take the case to a higher governing body, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), to have the three-month period extended.
In other tech news, Twitter creators have received six figure payouts from their ad revenue share.
