Brussels (Brussels Mroning) – Test Achats, a consumer protection organization, complained to the Belgian Data Protection Authority against Meta’s new privacy policy. It cited concerns over user notification and rights.
Consumer protection organisation Test Achats has launched a complaint with the Belgian Data Protection Authority against social media company Meta’s latest privacy policy. The move comes several days after a privacy NGO filed a parallel complaint against the company in 11 nations, including Belgium.
Is Meta’s New Privacy Policy Violating User Rights?
Meta, the parent group of some of the world’s largest social media platforms will on 26 June execute a new privacy policy. It would authorise the company to use years of its users’ public data, including their personal details, photos, posts and comments, to prepare its artificial intelligence.
Despite the significant impact of this policy on users’ privacy, few people are conscious of what will be changing. A notice about the latest privacy policy did appear in the notifications of users of the social networking sites Facebook and Instagram, but many will likely have overlooked this or not noticed it, thus remaining uninformed of the implications.
Are Users Properly Notified of Meta’s Policy Changes?
Test Achats has asserted that users are not properly notified about it and cannot effectively exercise their right to object. “Meta needs consumers to justify their refusal, reserves the right to dislike the refusal and clearly announces that scope from people who have exerted their right to object will indeed be used if it is posted by users who have not,” the consumer protection organisation stated.
It stated this is a breach of the law and has therefore filed a complaint against this latest privacy policy with the Data Protection Authority in Belgium, recommending it take all appropriate measures to contain the application of this new privacy policy.
Is Meta’s Privacy Policy Legal Under GDPR and DSA?
“The methods Meta uses are completely illegal,” stated Laura Clays, spokesperson for the consumer organisation. “Not only are the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Digital Services Act (DSA) not complied with, but many questions remain unanswered: what about content involving minors, or people who do not have a profile on the platform, and therefore have not been able to object?” she added.
In the meantime, Test Achats has called on users to exert their right to object via the relevant form (it published a step-by-step guide demonstrating to users how to exercise this right) and register any problems via its website.
Privacy NGO noyb (‘none of your business’) already launched a complaint against Meta with national privacy watchdogs in 11 European nations, including Belgium, last week. “Meta is basically stating that it can use any data from any source for any objective and make it available to anyone in the world, as long as it’s done via ‘AI technology’,” nyob’s Max Schrems said.
