Spain’s data protection agency AEPD has stopped Meta from releasing two election information apps, claiming they could breach Spanish data protection law.
The ban on Meta’s two apps, “Election Day Information” and “Voter Information Unit,” is temporary and could last up to three months, according to a statement from the AEPD.
“This decision is based on exceptional circumstances, where it is necessary to take measures to prevent data collection, profiling of users and transfer of information to third parties, thus preventing personal data from being used by unknown controllers and for purposes not explicitly,” the AEPD wrote.
Meta originally planned to launch the election information apps across Europe, with the exception of Italy, as the data protection authority had already opened a procedure in this regard.
About 4 billion people are expected to go to the polls in global elections in 2024, according to research and analytics firm GlobalData’s thematic intelligence report on disinformation.
Meta previously came under investigation in April 2024 after the European Commission said it had failed to tackle disinformation on its Facebook and Instagram sites.
The European Commission has expressed concern about disinformation and misleading advertising being used by political parties to influence voting behavior in the upcoming EU elections.
EU digital chief Margrethe Vestager stated that the European Commission suspected that Meta’s moderation of online content posted on its social media sites was not sufficient to protect its users.
The Commission also criticized Meta’s decision to remove its disinformation tracker CrowdTangle without announcing a replacement.
The European Parliament elections will take place from 6 to 9 June 2024.
“Spain blocks Meta’s election intelligence apps” was originally created and published by Verdict, a brand owned by GlobalData.
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