Key Points
- Meta accused EU regulators of making “aberrant” data requests.
- The EU demanded personal files, such as autopsy reports and school grades.
- Meta claims it had to submit nearly 1 million documents.
- EU lawyers argue they followed standard investigation procedures. The EU Court of Justice will issue a ruling next year.
Meta Platforms lashed out at European Union regulators on Wednesday, accusing officials of making “aberrant” demands for information during investigations that began four years ago. The tech giant is currently fighting in the EU Court of Justice, Europe’s highest court, arguing that regulators crossed a line by requesting deeply personal documents that had nothing to do with business.
Meta’s lawyer, Daniel Jowell, painted a disturbing picture for the panel of five judges. He revealed that the European Commission’s broad search demands captured sensitive personal files from company employees. These documents included autopsy reports of family members, children’s school report cards, and private security arrangements. Jowell argued that these requests were “intrusive and disproportionate” and should never have happened.
The core of the argument is about power and privacy. Meta believes there must be a limit to what regulators can demand. The company previously compared the EU’s tactics to a “fishing trawler” that scoops up everything in its path without discrimination. Meta claims the Commission used over 3,000 search terms, forcing the company to hand over nearly one million documents.
On the other side, the EU is standing its ground. Commission lawyer Giuseppe Conte dismissed Meta’s complaints. He argued that the regulator simply followed standard procedures used by competition authorities worldwide. Conte also noted that Meta itself actually suggested many of the search terms used during the early stages of the probe. He disputed Meta’s numbers, claiming the search terms numbered in the hundreds, not thousands.
This legal battle is part of a larger conflict between the social media giant and European authorities. Just last year, the EU fined Meta nearly $924 million for unfair business practices in Facebook Marketplace. This current appeal, however, focuses strictly on whether the regulators violated privacy rights during their investigation. The court is expected to make a final ruling next year.
