Court case Ro 2022/04/0026 – Court Ruling (Austria, 2024)
General GDPR enforcement action
This case relates to broader data protection obligations, not specifically to cookie or consent banner compliance. It is not included in cookie statistics or the Risk Calculator.
An Austrian court ruled that a travel platform could keep reviews of a family-run hotel and restaurant business online without their consent. This is important because it emphasizes the balance between personal rights and freedom of expression in online reviews.
What happened
The court dismissed an appeal from a family business that wanted their reviews removed from an online travel platform.
Who was affected
The owners of a hotel and restaurant who had their business listed and reviewed on the platform without their consent.
What the authority found
The court found that the platform's use of the reviews served a legitimate interest in freedom of expression, allowing the reviews to remain online.
Why this matters
This ruling sets a precedent for how online reviews are handled, showing that businesses may have limited control over reviews posted by users. Website operators should understand the implications of user-generated content.
View original scraped data
Original imported citations before automated processing; the processing history does not establish independent verification.
Source checks
Secondary-source text retrieved.
Review needed — 6 August 2026.
Processing notes: articles corrected, authority corrected, date discrepancy.
Retrieved text may be a secondary summary or an announcement. These automated statuses do not establish that the original decision was read or that the record received an independent legal review. How we check sources
The data subjects, joint operators of a hotel and restaurant business, ran their establishment through a family business. The controller operates an online travel platform accessible in Austria, on which registered users can post reviews and experience reports about listed establishments, in addition to general information. The data subjects' business was listed on the platform without their consent and was reviewed by users a few times per month, in comments that identified the data subjects by name, including both positive and negative reviews. On 27 June 2019, the data subjects requested that the controller erase all their personal data from the platform. The controller did not comply. On 28 August 2019, the data subjects lodged a complaint with the Austrian DPA, alleging unlawful processing and a violation of their right to erasure under Article 17(1)(d) GDPR. The DPA rejected the complaint on 18 September 2020, relying on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests) as the legal basis for the processing. The data subjects appealed to the Federal Administrative Court (BVwG), which held an oral hearing and dismissed the appeal on 13 May 2022. The BVwG found that the platform's processing served a legitimate interest in freedom of expression and information that the reviews concerned the data subjects' social andprofessional sphere rather than their private sphere, that it was reasonable to expect the data subjects to monitor the platform for unjustified criticism and that the controller had taken adequate measures against abusive reviews. The BVwG declared an appeal on points of law (Revision) admissible, citing the absence of Supreme Administrative Court case-law on the principles governing the balancing of interests for review platforms under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. The data subjects appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court. The court dismissed the appeal as unfounded, addressing each contested element of the three-part test under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (legit
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Court case Ro 2022/04/0026 in AT
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Court case Ro 2022/04/0026 - Austria (2024). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
Last updated: