EU rules oblige companies to obtain users' consent to create personalised advertising from their data.
Spain's main media association AMI says the US tech giant, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, created "unfair competition" by "systematically" breaking the law between May 2018 and July 2023.
The association alleges unfair competition in digital advertising sales and is seeking 551 million euros ($647 million) in compensation.
"Meta has ignored European regulations to build its economic empire at the expense of the viability of the media and the right of all citizens to information," AMI's director general Irene Lanzaco told AFP.
Witnesses are scheduled to testify on Wednesday at a commercial court in Madrid, with expert reports and closing arguments expected on Thursday.
"While Spanish media outlets requested user consent, Meta gained an undue advantage and engaged in unfair competition," said AMI's lawyer, Nicolas Gonzalez Cuellar.
"There is no need to fear confronting these seemingly powerful giants when the law is on your side."
Meta's lawyer, Javier de Carvajal, told a preliminary hearing in November that the company denied any damage or violation of EU rules.
Media groups represented by AMI include Prisa, owner of Spain's top-selling daily newspaper El Pais; Godo, publisher of the Barcelona-based daily La Vanguardia; Vocento, which publishes the conservative daily ABC; and Unidad Editorial, whose titles include El Mundo and Marca.
Spanish radio and television stations have launched a separate lawsuit against Meta for the same reasons, seeking 160 million euros in damages.
A similar lawsuit has also emerged in France, where around 200 media groups, including major television networks and leading newspapers, filed legal action against Meta in April.
YouTube, platforms not cooperating enough on EU content disputes: report
Brussels, Belgium (AFP) Oct 1, 2025 -
An independent appeals body tasked with resolving disputes between social media platforms and EU users took aim on Wednesday at the lack of cooperation from digital platforms, especially YouTube.
The Dublin-based out-of-court dispute settlement body, Appeals Centre Europe, was created as part of the Digital Services Act (DSA), the European Union's landmark content moderation law that has come under fierce US scrutiny.
The DSA demands companies protect EU citizens against illegal content, but also requires platforms to allow users to challenge any content decisions -- such as account or post removals -- via an out-of-court mechanism.
The centre, however, found that platforms including Meta's Facebook and Instagram as well as TikTok often dragged their feet, refusing to engage with the body sufficiently -- and singled out YouTube as the worst culprit.
When disputes arise, the panel seeks information from the platforms about deleted content or suspended accounts to adjudicate. In cases where no details were provided, it often ruled in the users' favour.
"In some cases, we've succeeded despite platforms, not because of them," said Thomas Hughes, leading the panel.
For example, the centre said it received no content from YouTube -- meaning it was only able to make decisions on 29 of the 343 eligible disputes submitted.
"As such, we are concerned that YouTube's EU users are being denied meaningful access to out-of-court settlement," Appeals Centre Europe said.
Covering the period between November 2024 to August 2025, it is the first transparency report since the body's creation last year.
The panel said dispute-settlement bodies were currently "Europe's best-kept-secret" -- but that it was working for that to change.
The centre said it received nearly 10,000 disputes and has already issued around 1,500 decisions in more than 3,300 cases that were within its scope.
Other platforms under the centre's scrutiny include Pinterest and Meta-owned Threads.
The DSA is currently in Washington's crosshairs.
US President Donald Trump's allies accuse the DSA of being a tool of "foreign censorship", but the EU rejects such accusations.
There are currently multiple EU probes ongoing under the DSA into platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and tech billionaire Elon Musk's X.
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