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German court rules Meta tracking technology violates European privacy laws

The court in Leipzig ruled that Meta must pay €5,000 ($5,900) to a German Facebook user who sued the platform for embedding tracking technology in third-party websites — a ruling that could open the door to other lawsuits.

A German court has ruled that Meta must pay €5,000 ($5,900) to a German Facebook user who sued the platform for embedding tracking technology in third-party websites — a ruling that could open the door to large fines down the road over data privacy violations relating to pixels and similar tools. "Every user is individually identifiable to Meta at all times as soon as they visit the third-party websites or use an app, even if they have not logged in via the Instagram and Facebook account," the press release said. Such a lawsuit could conceivably include all German visitors to any site using Meta pixels or other tracking technologies without user consent, he said.

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