Facebook – Court Ruling (Germany, 2024)

The data subject is a user of the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms. On 3 November 2023, Facebook (“the controller”) introduced their “Pay or Okay” model. On 10 November 2023, the data subject consented to the use of their data for ads on Facebook and Instagram. On 15 May 2023, the data subject requested access, damages and injunctive relief from the Regional court Regensburg (“Landgericht Regensburg”). The controller answered that it could not reply within the deadline under Article 12(3) GDPR, but only within three months’ time. The controller replied on 5 June 2023. The controller stated that it does not forward any information for advertising purposes to advertisers who personally identify users in the context of the processing at issue, unless the user has consented to the forwarding of their data to a specific advertiser. On 13 February 2024, the data subject amended its application and requested the Regional court Regensburg (“Landgericht Regensburg”) to order the controller to provide access under Article 15 GDPR and answer the specific questions the data subject had about their personal data in connection with the targeted advertising. Moreover, the data subject requested the Court to order the controller to pay the data subject non-material damages and to erase the personal data collected in the period between 25 May 2018 and 6 November 2023 under Article 17 GDPR. The data subject argued that they suffered a loss of control over its personal data. The inadequate information provided by the controller resulted in the data subject not knowing how their personal data had possibly been passed on to which third parties, or how it had been used by the controller for targeted advertising. Moreover, the data subject argued that they had received a lot of spam due to leaked data from his Facebook account. The data subject also argued that they always found the use of their personal data for the purposes of advertising aimed at them personally unpleasa