Meta Platforms suffered a blow on Wednesday when Europe’s second-highest court upheld the EU antitrust watchdog’s requests for details about Facebook’s data and online marketplace.
The U.S. internet giant, which compared the European Commission to a mega fishing trawler vacuuming up data over the demands, said it was “considering its options” following 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 court said.
Meta had not established that “establishing a virtual data room failed to ensure that sensitive personal data was sufficiently protected,” the court added.
The EU Court of Justice hears Meta’s legal appeals.
“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,” the Meta spokeswoman stated.
Meta said it handed over a million documents since 2019, questioning the need and proportionality of data requests. In addition, more companies are criticizing such requests.
The cases are T-451/20 and T-452/20 Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission.
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