Meta's election tools have been blocked over privacy concerns ahead of European Parliament elections

Katie Balevic
·2 min read

  • Spain's data watchdog suspended Meta's election products ahead of an EU vote.

  • The agency expressed alarm that products collected excessive data from Facebook and Instagram users.

  • Though it disagreed, Meta, also facing an EU investigation, complied with the order.

A Spanish data watchdog has put the brakes on two election products from Meta that were meant to roll out ahead of the upcoming European election.

The Spanish Data Protection Agency suspended Meta's Election Day Information and Voter Information Unit products amid concerns that they collected unnecessary election data from Facebook and Instagram users, the agency announced on May 31.

The products would have provided reminders to Facebook and Instagram users about the European Parliament elections, which are set to begin June 6.

But the Spanish Data Protection Agency said Meta would be able to "process personal data such as, among others, user name; IP address; age and gender," potentially violating the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. The agency's suspension remains in effect for 3 months.

"The Agency considers that the data collection and storage planned by the company would put at serious risk the rights and freedoms of Instagram and Facebook users, who would see an increase in the volume of information Meta collects about them, allowing for more complex, detailed and exhaustive profiling, and generating more intrusive processing," a translation of the agency's statement read.

In a statement to Reuters, Meta said it was complying with the EU's data regulations.

"Our election tools have been expressly designed to respect users' privacy and comply with the GDPR. While we disagree with the AEPD's assessment in this case, we have cooperated with their request," a company spokesperson told Reuters.

A Meta spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The suspension comes after the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, opened an investigation in April into Meta's "policies and practices relating to deceptive advertising and political content on its services." In response, a Meta spokesperson told Reuters that the company has a "well-established process for identifying and mitigating risks on our platforms."

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