Spain Launches Parliamentary Probe Into Meta Over Privacy Concerns

Spain's parliament has initiated an inquiry into Meta amid allegations of privacy violations affecting Facebook and Instagram users, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez revealed on Wednesday. Sanchez emphasized the primacy of Spanish law over any technology platform or algorithm, warning that breaches of citizens’ rights will face consequences.\n\nThe investigation follows international findings that Meta employed a covert method to monitor web activity on Android devices, according to the Prime Minister's office. Meta has not yet responded to requests for comment.\n\nThis move further complicates Madrid's already strained ties with Washington, which has criticized Spain for falling short of NATO defense spending targets and maintaining close relations with China. During the Trump administration, the U.S. also opposed the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA), aimed at regulating large technology firms and addressing harmful online content.\n\nSpain’s government alleges that Meta may have breached multiple EU regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the ePrivacy Directive, as well as the DMA and DSA. Meta is scheduled to appear before a lower house parliamentary committee to respond to the allegations.\n\nThe tech giant, led by Mark Zuckerberg, has previously faced legal challenges from the European Commission. In October, preliminary findings implicated Meta and TikTok for failing to provide sufficient public data access to researchers. Additionally, Meta was fined €798 million ($923 million) in 2024 for anticompetitive conduct favoring Facebook Marketplace and faced July 2023 charges for non-compliance with the DMA concerning its advertising consent model.