20260821 Meta vor Gericht

21.08.2026 Meta vor Gericht

Lawsuits Against Meta

Current reports from the U.S. indicate that a lawsuit seeking billions in damages is underway against the Meta Group because its algorithms make people — especially teenagers and children — addicted to using more of its services. In Germany, there is also a flood of lawsuits, as reported by tagesschau.de. WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook are accused of tracking users even on third-party websites. This would affect 50 million people in Germany alone.

Once you have agreed to the Meta Group's Terms of Service, you consent to having your activities tracked on their sites. However, you have not given consent to be tracked during other online activities. A class-action lawsuit filed by the Austrian Consumer Protection Association (VSV) challenges this practice.

The lawsuit targets this tactic, which many people have likely already observed: You search for a product on the online portals of various providers. If you then visit a social media account on Facebook or Instagram, you see ads for exactly those products. The plaintiffs have now been able to prove that during the initial search — which has nothing to do with Meta — data is already being transferred to Meta, allowing the company to unlawfully (without the user’s consent) learn of the user’s interests.

The lawsuit is ongoing.

Since the lawsuit in the U.S. regarding media addiction is also generating interest in Europe, we’ve included a second link below to a German website addressing violent, sexual, manipulative, hateful, and otherwise inappropriate content for children and adolescents.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)