Skip to main content
Praxikon

Ruling

Schrems v Meta: no unlimited retention and aggregation of data for targeted advertising

Date
Status
final
Body
Hof van Justitie van de EU (Vierde kamer), Maximilian Schrems tegen Meta Platforms Ireland Limited
Reference
C-446/21, ECLI:EU:C:2024:834

What it is about

Question: may a social network use all data it collects about a user, on and off the platform, without time limit and without distinction by type, for personalised advertising, and may it use sexual orientation data after the person spoke publicly about it? Ruling: the data minimisation principle precludes aggregating, analysing and processing data for targeted advertising without restriction as to time and without distinction as to type. A public statement about one's own orientation does not allow the platform to process other data about that orientation, collected via third parties, for advertising.

What this means in practice

For profiling and advertising you must set retention periods and decide per data type whether use is needed; a data lake where everything is kept and combined forever is not permitted. Special category data that a person made public somewhere may not for that reason be compiled from other sources. Reflect this in your retention policy and in the configuration of marketing and analytics tools. This judgment is from 2024 and therefore also counts among the recent rulings.

The GDPR articles concerned

Source: EUR-Lex, arrest C-446/21checked on 15 September 2026

Summary and practical reading by Praxikon. Not legal advice; the source prevails.

Connections

What connects to this development

The counterpart in the other law

Case law8 of 10

Guidelines8 of 9

Enforcement and fines8 of 11

Legislation in motion