LONDON (AP) — The European Union's top court said Friday that social media company Meta can't use public information about a user's sexual orientation obtained outside its platforms for personalized advertising under the bloc's strict data privacy rules.
The decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg is a victory for Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems, who has been a thorn in the side of Big Tech companies over their compliance with 27-nation bloc’s data privacy rules.
The EU court issued its ruling after Austria's supreme court asked for guidance in Schrems' case on how to apply the privacy rules, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.
Schrems had complained that Facebook had processed personal data including information about his sexual orientation to target him with online advertising, even though he had never disclosed on his account that he was gay. The only time he had publicly revealed this fact was during a panel discussion.
“An online social network such as Facebook cannot use all of the personal data obtained for the purposes of targeted advertising, without restriction as to time and without distinction as to type of data,” the court said in a press release summarizing its decision.
Even though Schrems revealed he was gay in the panel discussion, that “does not authorise the operator of an online social network platform to process other data relating to his sexual orientation, obtained, as the case may be, outside that platform, with a view to aggregating and analysing those data, in order to offer him personalised advertising.”
Meta said it was awaiting publication of the court's full judgment and that it “takes privacy very seriously.”
“Everyone using Facebook has access to a wide range of settings and tools that allow people to manage how we use their information,” the company said in a statement.
Schrems' lawyer, Katharina Raabe-Stuppnig, lawyer representing Mr Schrems, welcomed the court's decision.
“Meta has basically been building a huge data pool on users for 20 years now, and it is growing every day. However, EU law requires ‘data minimisation’," she said in a statement. “Following this ruling only a small part of Meta’s data pool will be allowed to be used for advertising — even when users consent to ads.”
FILE - In this May 16, 2012, file photo, the Facebook logo is displayed on a mobile device in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
An Israeli airstrike has cut off a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria, leaving two huge craters on either side of the road.
The airstrike Friday rendered the road unusable for cars, leaving people to go on foot to the Masnaa Border Crossing where tens of thousands of people fleeing war in Lebanon have crossed into Syria over the past two weeks.
On Tuesday, Israel began a ground incursion into Lebanon against the Hezbollah militant group while also conducting strikes in Gaza. The Israeli military said nine soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials. Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Here is the latest:
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Friday that a strike in Beirut the day before killed Mohammed Rashid Skafi, the head of Hezbollah’s communications division.
The military said in a statement that Skafi was “a senior Hezbollah terrorist who was responsible for the communications unit since 2000” and was “closely affiliated” with high-up Hezbollah officials.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department says some 350 American citizens, green card holders and family members have now left Lebanon on US-organized contract flights this week.
The department announced the new number — up by about 100 since Thursday — after another flight from Beirut landed early Friday in Frankfurt, Germany. The flight had the capacity to carry 300 passengers but only 97 people were aboard, it said.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Thursday that the U.S. would continue to organize such flights as long as the security situation in Lebanon is dire and as long as there is demand.
More than 6,000 American citizens have contacted the U.S. embassy in Beirut seeking information about departing the country over the past week since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated. Miller said the department understood that some Americans, many of them dual U.S.-Lebanese nationals and long-time residents of the country, may choose to stay.
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the country’s recent missile strike on Israel, state TV reported Friday.
Khamenei was leading Friday prayers and was to deliver a rare public sermon in the Iranian capital, Tehran, that was being watched for signs of what Iran might plan next.
In a 40-minute speech, he praised Tuesday's missile barrage against Israel as a shining job by Iranian armed forces. “It will be done in the future again if it becomes necessary,” he said.
There was a commemoration ceremony for the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah beforehand. Most high-ranking Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian and the Revolutionary Guard’s top generals, attended the ceremony.
Iran is Hezbollah’s main backer and has sent weapons and billions of dollars to the group over the years.
Also on Friday, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Beirut, where he was expected to discuss the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah with Lebanese officials. Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Iran sent its first shipment of aid to Lebanon, including 10 tons of food and medicine.
TOKYO — As Japan prepared to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon, the government also urged those in Iran to leave as soon as possible, while commercial flights are still operating.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters Friday that Japan’s embassy in Iran renewed its safety advisory to Japanese nationals this week after Iran fired missiles into Israel.
On Thursday, the Japanese Defense Ministry dispatched two C-2 transport aircraft to Jordan to stand by for an evacuation of about 50 Japanese nationals from Lebanon. Iwaya said the government has not decided whether to also dispatch defense aircraft to Iran, where about 440 Japanese citizens are based, but “we will do our utmost so that we can respond to any contingency in order to protect the safety of Japanese citizens.”
BEIRUT — Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Beirut where he will discuss with Lebanese officials the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Iran is the main backer of Hezbollah and has sent weapons and billions of dollars to the group over the years.
The Iranian official arrived in Lebanon as Israel launched new airstrikes on different parts of Lebanon, including Beirut’s southern suburb, south Lebanon, and the eastern Bekaa Valley.
Araghchi’s visit to Beirut came after Iran launched at least 180 missiles Tuesday into Israel, part of a series of rapidly escalating attacks that threaten to push the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says an Israeli airstrike has cut a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria.
The agency gave no further details about Friday’s airstrike that led to the closure of a road near the Masnaa Border Crossing, from where tens of thousands of people fleeing war in Lebanon have crossed into Syria over the past two weeks. It’s the first time this major border crossing has been cut off since the beginning of the war.
Lebanese General Security recorded more than 250,000 Syrian citizens and over 80,000 Lebanese citizens crossing into Syrian territory during the last week of September, after Israel launched a heavy bombardment of southern and eastern Lebanon.
Dama Post, a pro-government Syrian media outlet, said Israeli warplanes fired two missiles and damaged the road between Masnaa Border Crossing in Lebanon and the Syrian crossing point of Jdeidet Yabous.
There are half a dozen border crossings between the two countries and most of them remain open. Lebanon’s minister of public works said all border crossings between Lebanon and Syria work under the supervision of the state.
Hezbollah is believed to have received much of its weapons from Iran via Syria. The Lebanese group has a presence on both sides of the border where it fights alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
SYDNEY — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday condemned the Iranian ambassador’s comments praising a recently slain Hezbollah leader, but rejected opposition advice to expel the envoy.
Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi described Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by an Israeli missile strike in September in Lebanon, as a “remarkable leader" on social media.
“The government condemns any support for terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah. We condemn the ambassador’s comments,” Albanese told reporters in Sydney.
“Australia has maintained a relationship with Iran since 1968 that has been continuous. Not because we agree with the regime, but because it’s in Australia’s national interest,” Albanese added.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who could become prime minister at elections due by May, called for Sadeghi to be expelled over his post. Dutton described Sadeghi’s words as “completely and utterly at odds with what is in our country’s best interests.”
Sadeghi did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Australia officially rebuked Sadeghi in August for endorsing Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin’s hope that “wiping out the Zionist plague out of the holy lands of Palestine happens no later than 2027."
A damaged is seen inside a car repair shop that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In this photo released by Iranian Foreign Ministry, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, is welcomed by a group of officials upon arrival at Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)
In this photo released by Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi steps out of his plane upon arrival at Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)
Residents run for cover following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati during their meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A man runs for cover as a smoke raises in the background following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese citizen Ali Zeineddine, left, greets his brother Hussein arriving from Lebanon, after an Israeli air strike killed various members of their family, at Sao Paulo International airport, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A volunteer of the Russian Cultural Center entertains displaced children at a school in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Flames and smoke rise from a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, as Rafik Hariri International airport is seen in the background, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese citizen Ali Zeineddine, third from left, waits with family for his brother arriving from Lebanon at Sao Paulo International airport, after an Israeli air strike killed various members of their family, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
Flames and smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A Hezbollah paramedic walks between debris after an airstrike hit an apartment in a multistory building, in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
