German court rules Meta's web tracking tools breach GDPR
11 Jul 2025

A German court has ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to pay €5,000 to a user.

The ruling comes after the plaintiff sued Meta for using tracking technology on third-party websites without consent.

The Regional Court of Leipzig found that Meta's tracking pixels and software development kits (SDKs) violate European privacy laws by collecting user data without their consent.

Ruling could encourage more users to sue Meta
Legal implications

The Leipzig court's decision could open the floodgates for other users to sue Meta without having to "explicitly demonstrate individual damages."

The court noted that "every user is individually identifiable to Meta at all times as soon as they visit the third-party websites or use an app, even if they have not logged in via the Instagram and Facebook account."

Court slams Meta for 'massively violating' data protection laws
Data concerns

The court also criticized Meta for "massively violating" Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by processing personal data to create profiles of Facebook users.

This practice, the court said, has resulted in billions of dollars in profits for the tech giant.

Experts believe that this ruling could expose all websites and apps using tracking technology to major lawsuits over data privacy violations.

Ruling may lead to class action lawsuits against Meta
Class action

The ruling also sets a precedent for potential class action lawsuits against Meta.

Ronni K. Gothard Christiansen, CEO of AesirX, a consultancy that helps businesses comply with data privacy laws, said such a lawsuit could include all German visitors to any site using Meta pixels or other tracking technologies without user consent.

"This may very well be one of the most substantial rulings coming out of Europe this year," Christiansen said.