A London woman has won a court case against Meta to stop using her personal data for targeted advertising on Facebook, hoping her victory will pave the way for others who want to stop the social network from showing them ads based on their demographics and interests.
A London woman has won a court case against Meta to stop using her personal data for targeted advertising on Facebook, hoping her victory will pave the way for others who want to stop the social network from showing them ads based on their demographics and interests.
Tanya O'Carroll, 37, works in the technology policy and human rights sector. In 2022, she filed a lawsuit against Meta demanding that it stop using her personal data to populate her social media feed with targeted advertising based, among other things, on her interests, the BBC writes .
O'Carroll created her Facebook account about 20 years ago. In 2017, the woman became pregnant and noticed a dramatic change in the ads on her feed.
"The ads suddenly started changing over the course of a few weeks to a lot of baby pictures and other things — ads about babies, pregnancy, and motherhood. It just annoyed me — this was before I told people about it in my private life, and yet Facebook had already determined that I was pregnant," the woman said.
Ms O'Carroll's lawsuit argued that Facebook's targeted advertising system fell under the UK's definition of direct marketing, which gives people a right to object.
Meta said that advertising on its platform could only be targeted to groups of at least 100 people, not individuals, and therefore did not constitute direct marketing. But the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) disagreed.
“Organisations must respect people’s choices about how their data is used,” the ICO said. “This means giving users a clear way to opt out of having their data used in this way.”
O'Carroll said Meta agreed to stop using her personal data for direct marketing purposes, "which in a legal sense means I've effectively been able to turn off all the creepy, invasive, targeted advertising on Facebook."
The woman also noted that she doesn't want to stop using Facebook because it's "filled with all these connections, family and friends, and whole chapters of my life."
At the same time, a company spokesperson added: “Facebook and Instagram cost a lot of money to build and maintain, and these services are free to UK consumers through personalised advertising. Our services support UK jobs and economic growth by connecting businesses with the people most likely to buy their products, while ensuring universal access to online services regardless of income. We will continue to protect their value by protecting user choice and privacy.”
