The core business model of Meta may be in jeopardy due to the European Union's Court of Justice's decision that Facebook must get user consent before sending personalized adverts.

 

The core business model of Meta may be in jeopardy due to the European Union's Court of Justice's decision that Facebook must get user consent before sending personalized adverts.  For the three months ending March 31, Meta earned $28B in advertising income, with 22% of that coming from the continent of Europe. Meta is currently appealing a privacy decision in Ireland ($425M fine) and has switched its legal justification for personalized ads under E.U. privacy law to the "legitimate interest" provision. The decision also affirms that competition regulators may consider data protection rules, which opens the door to potential new antitrust investigations into significant technology giants. A 2019 directive from the German Federal Cartel Office to avoid merging user data from different platforms without user agreement must be complied with by Meta. The upcoming E.U. Digital Markets Act, which will put comparable regulations on Meta, may restrict the decision's influence.