European country Spain has taken a significant step in investigating Meta on the grounds of accusations that the company treacherously followed the digital activities of millions of users. It was on Nov 20 that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that the head office of Meta will be visited by the parliament collecting questions regarding the data gathering and if the privacy of the people was violated.
The experts from three countries: Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands, discovered that Meta resorted to a “hidden mechanism” that kept track of the websites that Android users visited on their browsers. Afterward, it was claimed that the data was linked to the identities of the users on Facebook and Instagram – even if the persons were using the incognito mode of browsing or were connected to a VPN.
The office of Sanchez reported that the act might have been repeated for almost a year and could result in violations of the data protection laws of the EU, as well as Digital Services laws. Already, similar worries have caused lawsuits against Meta in Germany, Canada, and the United States.
While attending a forum in Madrid, Sanchez reiterated the point that the social media giant must “give an explanation of the incident”, thus, citizens’ rights “were not systematically and massively violated”. Sanchez also added that Spain would not allow any platform to break the law just because of its size. “The law is above any algorithm or any big tech platform,” he uttered.
Meta informed that it highly valued the privacy of its users and that it had already put in place certain measures which would enable users to have control over their data. The company is said to be looking forward to cooperation with the authorities, stated the spokesperson.
The accusations conservation take place right now when Sanchez keep on regulative of social media platforms management. As a matter of fact, he has strongly objected to the rise of a new “tech caste” allegedly trying to manipulate democratically elected governments for their own benefit through social media power. At the beginning of the year, he recommended abolishing online anonymity and holding tech leaders responsible if their platforms “pollute society”.
Now that the probe is underway, Spanish legislators will likely demand from Meta detailed explanations concerning its data practices along with evidence that user rights were not infringed upon.
