No preliminary injunction for Meta in Germany, court rules

The Verbraucherzentrale North Rhine-Westphalia (VZ NRW) has lost in court. The German consumer organization tried to stop Meta from collecting and processing EU user data to train its AI models.

Last month, the Verbraucherzentrale North Rhine-Westphalia (VZ NRW) tried to pressure Meta into stopping training its AI models with data from European Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger users.

The consumer organization sent a cease and desist letter to Meta on April 30, warning the American tech company that it would seek legal action if it didn’t comply.

The advocacy group claims that Meta doesn’t have a ‘legitimate interest’ in using European user data for AI training purposes. Instead, Meta should ask users for their consent. “A so-called opt-out, as offered by Meta, is not sufficient; the data subjects would have to actively consent to this,” Christine Steffen, data protection expert at the VZ NRW, explained.

Because Meta wouldn’t comply with the VZ NRW’s request, the organization asked the German Higher Regional Court of Cologne to impose a preliminary injunction. However, the court didn’t grant the injunction, meaning that Meta can start using EU user data to train its AI models this Tuesday.

“We very much regret the decision of the Higher Regional Court of Cologne. In our view, the use of personal data for the training of Meta's own AI remains highly problematic. The rejection of our urgent request means that facts are now being created, although there are still considerable doubts as to the legality of the use in this form,” Wolfgang Schuldzinski, Board Member of the VZ NRW, said in a statement.

Austrian privacy organization Noyb is also disappointed in the court’s ruling, but remains optimistic for a positive outcome.

“While the preliminary injunction has not been granted, this doesn’t mean that the main procedure won’t be won. While VZ NRW is bringing a case for Germany, Noyb is also planning a case for the entire EU. Other organizations are also considering taking action these days, so this is far from done for Meta. If Meta’s approach is finally found to be unlawful, it could be liable to damages claims from up to 400 million European users,” Noyb Chairman Max Schrems stated.

Furthermore, the Hamburg data protection authority (DPA) has issued a so-called ‘urgency procedure’ under Article 66 GDPR against the Data Protection Commission (DPC). This would force the Irish DPA to stop Meta’s AI training plans, contrary to the DPC’s current position.

“Despite Meta having a preliminary win in Germany, the overall battle just got bigger, when an EU regulator is going after them and their Irish ‘friendly’ regulator. It is interesting that the Court in Germany took the view that Meta followed the guidelines by the EU data protection authorities, while the authorities themselves bring and urgency procedure,” Schrems adds.