Meta Platforms was dealt a blow on Wednesday when Europe’s second-highest court upheld the EU antitrust watchdog’s requests for Facebook data and online marketplace information.
The U.S. tech giant has compared the European Commission to a mega fishing trawler scooping up data over the demands, and a representative said it was “considering its options” over the court judgment.
“The General Court finds that Meta Platforms Ireland has not successfully demonstrated that the request to provide documents to be identified by search terms went beyond what was necessary,” the Luxembourg-based General Court said.
“Establishing a virtual data room failed to ensure that sensitive personal data was sufficiently protected,” the court added.
Meta can appeal legal issues to Europe’s highest court, the EU Court of Justice.
Meta’s representative added, “We also welcome the Court-established virtual data room, which recognized that purely private information – including personal medical files – has no relevance to any competition investigation.”
Meta said it turned up more than a million documents since 2019, questioning the data requests’ need and proportionality. As a result, companies are increasingly criticizing such requests. T-451/20 Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission and T-452/20 are the cases.