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Spain has blocked the rollout of election-focused features both nationally and internationally: data protection authority AEPD used emergency powers provided for in the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to ban Election Day Information and Voter Information Unit tools for up to three months as a precautionary measure.
Meta had planned to roll out the tools ahead of the European elections. The company said it designed them to “respect user privacy and comply with GDPR” and that while it disagrees with the AEPD’s position, Meta said: Follow orders.
The authorities criticized Meta’s plans to process data through the tool, saying that the collection of age data was unjustified (as it was not possible to verify the age stated in the users’ profiles) and criticized Meta’s intention to retain the data after the June elections, arguing that the plans “reveal a different purpose for the processing operations.”
Other data that Meta planned to process through its election tools included user interactions with those features and gender information. “The authorities consider that the company’s planned collection and storage of data seriously endangers the rights and freedoms of Instagram and Facebook users, as it would increase the amount of information collected and allow for the creation of more complex, detailed and exhaustive profiles, subjecting them to more intrusive processing,” the AEPD said. Translated from Spanish. They also raised concerns that such data could be provided to third parties for “purposes not explicitly stated.”
The AEPD alleges that Meta is using its tools to encourage eligible Facebook and Instagram users in the EU to vote. The watchdog group claims that Meta identifies users as eligible to vote based on their IP address and profile data about their place of residence. However, the only requirement to vote in an election is to be an adult citizen of an EU member state.
According to the AEPD, Meta’s approach targets non-EU citizens living in EU member states and excludes EU citizens who do not reside within the EU. The company calls its processing of user data “unnecessary, disproportionate and excessive.” .
The European Commission has also expressed concerns about Meta’s approach to elections, and in April it questioned the company over its election policies.