Spanish media battles Meta for $582 million in court

Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is (once again) the living proof that it's not that funny running a global corporation.

Reuters reports that the parent company of Facebook is set to face a trial in Spain in October 2025 over a €551 million ($582 million) lawsuit. It was filed by more than 80 Spanish media companies accusing Meta of unfair advertising practices, according to a Madrid court announcement on Friday.

The trial is scheduled for October 1 and 2, as stated by the 15th Madrid Commercial Court. That's almost a year away from now, but, personally, I doubt any agreement could be reached in the meantime.

The AMI media association, representing 87 Spanish media outlets, initiated the lawsuit last year, alleging that Meta violated EU data protection regulations between 2018 and 2023. The claimants argue that Meta's "massive" and "systematic" use of personal data from Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp users provides an unfair advantage in creating and offering personalized advertisements. They argue this constitutes unfair competition.

Despite attempts to negotiate outside court, no agreement was reached during the preliminary hearing. The case will proceed with simultaneous translation provided for Meta's international representatives. The primary debate centers on whether user consent obtained via tracking cookies was sufficient for personalized advertising under EU law.

Among the complainants are major media publishers such as Prisa, owner of the popular "El País" newspaper.

In a related development, Spanish TV and radio broadcaster associations UTECA and AERC recently filed a separate €160 million ($168 million) lawsuit against Meta on similar grounds.

These legal actions reflect efforts by traditional media companies to challenge tech giants in courts and legislatures, seeking fair compensation for the use of their content and to safeguard their revenue streams. However, similar attempts in countries like Canada and Australia have sometimes backfired, with Meta blocking users from reposting news articles in response.

Globally, Meta has been reducing its emphasis on news and political content in user feeds, stating that news links now constitute only a small portion of the platform's content.