A German court has ruled that Meta must pay $5,900 to a German Facebook user who sued the platform for embedding tracking technology in third-party websites, a ruling that could pave the way for significant fines in the future over data privacy violations related to pixels and similar tools. The Regional Court of Leipzig declared that Meta’s tracking pixels and software development kits, which are embedded in countless websites and apps, collect users’ data without their consent, thereby violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The ruling in favor of the plaintiff sets a significant precedent, which the court acknowledged will allow countless other users to sue without needing to explicitly demonstrate individual damages. According to the Leipzig Regional Court press release,