In a move to protect the privacy of Instagram and Facebook users, the Spanish Data Protection Agency has suspended two election products from Meta that were set to be released before the upcoming European election. The Election Day Information and Voter Information Unit products were halted due to concerns about the unnecessary collection of election data from Facebook and Instagram users.
The agency explained that Meta’s products would potentially violate the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by processing personal data like user names, IP addresses, age, and gender. They believe that the data collection planned by Meta would pose serious risks to the rights and freedoms of Instagram and Facebook users. It could lead to more detailed profiling and intrusive processing of personal information.
Meta assured that their election tools were developed with privacy in mind and in compliance with the GDPR. However, they disagreed with the assessment from the Spanish Data Protection Agency. Despite this disagreement, Meta agreed to cooperate with their request for a suspension of these products for three months. This comes after an investigation into Meta’s advertising and political content practices was opened by the European Commission in April. In response, Meta emphasized their efforts to identify and address risks on their platforms.
