In its ruling of 4 July 2025 (case no. 05 O 2351/23), the Leipzig Regional Court awarded a Facebook user €5,000 in damages for a data protection violation in connection with the‘Meta Business Tools’ service. The court considered the comprehensive, cross-platform profiling for advertising purposes to be a significant infringement of the rights of the affected data subject. The basis for the claim was art. 82 GDPR.
The decision was prompted by Meta’s practice of integrating its Business Tools into third-party websites to collect browsing information from website visitors. The court criticised the lack of transparency regarding the nature and purpose of the data analysis, leading affected data subjects to feel as if they are under complete digital surveillance.
The ruling aligns with the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice, according to which an infringement of a data subject’s fundamental rights can give rise to a presumption of non-material damage, without the need to prove a financial loss. In particular, the Regional Court did not require proof of specific harm to the claimant. Instead, it determined the amount of damages by considering the general impact on a reasonable, average data subject as well as the economic value of the personal data to Meta.
The ruling is not yet legally binding. Meta has already announced its intention to appeal the ruling. It remains to be seen whether the decision will stand and therefore set a precedent for similar cases.
Implications for businesses: The ruling underscores the increasing risk for businesses of being ordered to pay substantial damages for data protection violations. In particular, collecting and processing user data in a non-transparent manner and without effective consent from data subjects can give rise to civil claims, even without them having to demonstrate a financial loss. The decision highlights the need to take data protection as seriously as its commercial monetisation.
(Dr. Lukas Mezger, UNVERZAGT Rechtsanwälte)