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Spain blocks Facebook and Instagram from deploying election features

Spain has blocked Meta from rolling out election-focused features on Facebook and Instagram in the country, citing data protection concerns. A data protection agency called the company’s planned treatment of user information "unnecessary, disproportionate and excessive."

“The agency considers that the collection and conservation of data planned by the company would seriously put at risk the rights and freedoms of Instagram and Facebook users, who would see an increase in the volume of information that it collects about them, allowing the creation of more complex, detailed and exhaustive profiles, generating more intrusive treatments,” the AEPD said in a statement translated from Spanish. The AEPD asserts that Meta plans to use the tools to remind eligible Facebook and Instagram users in the EU to vote. The watchdog claims that Meta will identify users as eligible voters based on IP addresses and profile data about where they live.

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