The Court of Justice has clarified the requirements for associations to bring actions under Article 80(2) of the GDPR against Meta Platforms Ireland
On July 11th, the Court of Justice ruled on Meta Platforms Ireland (C-757/22), following a request from the German Federal Court of Justice about Article 80(2) GDPR. The case involves a dispute between Meta and the Federal Union of German Consumer Organisations over alleged personal data law violations. The Federal Union argued that Meta’s information in certain Facebook App Centre games was unfair, particularly in failing to meet legal requirements for obtaining valid user consent. The case reached the Federal Court of Justice, which referred a question to the Court of Justice about the interpretation of Article 80(2) GDPR.
The Court of Justice decided that for an association to bring an action under Article 80(2) GDPR, it must show two things: first, that the alleged breach of the data subject’s rights is connected to the processing, and second, that this breach results from the data controller’s failure to provide clear and accessible information about the data processing. This information must be given when the data is collected.
The Court’s interpretation is based on the literal, contextual, and teleological analysis of the GDPR provisions and the objectives of Article 80 GDPR.