The media grouped in AMI sue META for unfair competition and demand more than 550 million

More than 83 Spanish media denounce that 100% of income from the sale of segmented META advertising has been obtained "illegitimately"

   MADRID, 4 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Information Media Association (AMI) has filed a lawsuit, representing 83 Spanish media outlets, against META for its "continued systematic and massive non-compliance with European data protection regulations" in the period between 25 May 2018 and until at least July 31, 2023. They claim more than 550 million.

This was announced this Monday by the association, which added that, as can be seen from the different resolutions of the European authorities responsible for data protection, "META has repeatedly failed to comply with Community data protection legislation, ignoring the regulatory requirement that citizens must consent to the use of their data for advertising profiling."

In the plaintiffs' opinion, META's behavior "determines that one hundred percent of the technology giant's income derived from the sale of segmented advertising has been obtained illegitimately."

"The systematic and massive use of personal data of users of META platforms, tracked without their consent throughout their digital browsing, would have allowed the American company to offer the sale of advertising space on the market based on an illegitimate competitive advantage. obtained," he added.

In this scenario, AMI has detailed that the direction of the action carried out by the Spanish media has been entrusted to the law firm directed by the professor of Procedural Law Nicolás González-Cuéllar.

The president of AMI, José Joly Martínez de Salazar, has highlighted "the importance of this unprecedented action, which shows how the technology giant has built its dominant position in the advertising market by disregarding the regulations designed to protect the right fundamental to the privacy of European citizens, and generating obvious damage to the Spanish media to the point of putting their sustainability at risk".

The president of the Spanish media has highlighted that "behaviors such as those developed by META put in check the sustainability of the media, fundamental for the democratic quality of a country."

Likewise, the president of AMI has highlighted that, according to data recently published by the Ministry of Economy, "the media is the second most digitalized sector of the Spanish economy, only surpassed by the technology companies themselves." "These data certify that the media are pioneers in digitalization in Spain and that they obtain an outstanding positioning in the digital field as a result of their constant innovation and their investment effort, despite the fact that the dominance of the digital ecosystem by the large platforms prevents for the media to obtain fair monetization," he added.

The Information Media Association calls on advertisers in the public and private sectors to "entrust their advertising campaigns to safe, reliable, and responsible media, respectful of the rights of citizens and committed to promoting quality." of Spain, all in coherence with its ESG policies.