Dozens are the media in the Spainwho are moving on to the law against Metaclaiming a large amount of money for damage suffered by the way the company uses for ads.
Over 80 Spanish media ask Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagramabout 550 million euros, among other things for unfair competition, in a trial that will be discussed much and began on Wednesday morning 01.10.2025 in Madrid.
The hearing began at 10:00 (local time, 11:00 in Greece) at a Spanish capital’s commercial court and is going to run until tomorrow, Thursday.
OR Media (Ami), the main union of the sector in Spain, lodged an appeal in December 2023 against Meta in Ireland, where the giant American technology company has its European headquarters. Asks 551 million euros for unfair competition on sale digital advertising.
‘What is at stake here is the survival of the media threatened by the predator behavior of a platform like Meta, which acts without respecting our legislative framework“Irene Lanthako, Director General of the Union, told reporters before the court’s hearing.
‘What Meta did is to make a mass profile The behavior of all internet users and, on the basis of this mass profile, without informing them about it, nor has it received the consensus of the citizens, the group sold advertising in areas, thus gaining a huge profit from an illegal, regulatory, act. “
AMI accuses META that it violated the European Regulation on the protection of data from May 2018 to July 2023 using the Internet users’ data without their consent to create personalized advertising profiles.
Meta’s response
“This is an unfounded request that (…) is not based on any evidence of the alleged damage, while at the same time deliberately ignoring the evolution of the advertising industry over the last few years,” Meta reacted to a message transmitted to the French Agency.
“Meta respects all applicable laws and provided clear choices, transparent information and a wide range of tools to users to control their experience in our services,” the group also argued.
Witnesses are going to file today and expert reports as well as the conclusions of the parties will be presented tomorrow, Thursday.
Popular Spanish in the battle against Meta
Among the media groups represented by Ami is Prisa, owner of the El Pais newspaper and AS sports newspaper, but also Godo (La Vanguardia, Mundo Deportivo…), the Unidad Editorial (El Mundo, Marca) and Vocento, who is issuing ABC.
In addition to Ami, Spanish radio and television stations also filed an appeal against META for the same reasons, seeking compensation of 160m euros.