European Union: Adopted EDPB urgent binding decision extending the ban on behavioural advertising on Meta's platforms, Facebook and Instagram in EU/EEA

On 27 October 2023, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) issued its decision extending the ban on behavioural advertising on Meta's platforms, Facebook and Instagram in the European Economic Area (EEA). The ban follows the previous ruling of the Norwegian Data Protection Authority (DPA), which imposed a fine of NOK 1 million on Meta for processing data for behavioural targeted advertising without a valid legal basis. The DPA imposed a ban on behavioural advertising, which only applied to users in Norway. The DPA forwarded this issue to the EDPB, requesting a binding decision to extend the ban applicability to the EU/EEA. The EDPB imposed the ban against Meta due to the non-compliance of its data processing practices with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Meta has been previously informed about its illegal business model, and it announced its plans to obtain the consent of its users for behavioural advertising. The EDPB instructed the Irish Data Protection Authority to impose the ban on the European headquarters of Meta, located in Ireland, after which the ban will take effect. The ban will apply to behavioural-targeted advertising, which uses the user's online behaviour, such as browsing history and will not apply to contextual targeted advertising.