Europe’s top court adviser just slammed the door on Meta’s bold challenge to antitrust data grabs, handing regulators a major win in their Big Tech crackdown.
On February 26, 2026, Advocate General Athanasios Rantos urged the Court of Justice to dismiss Meta’s appeals in cases C-496/23 P (Facebook Marketplace) and C-497/23 P (Facebook Data), calling the EU’s demands necessary and proportionate.
In his opinion, Advocate General Athanasios Rantos proposes that the Court of Justice dismiss both appeals and uphold the judgments of the General Court
the court said in a statement, adding that Rantos said in his non-binding opinion that the General Court
Did not err in law in assessing the necessity of the information requested or in examining the safeguards for its provision.
The Data Battle
Meta argued the Commission’s requests using up to 2,500 search terms that forced handover of nearly 1 million documents were “aberrant” and invasive, dredging up sensitive info like family records.
This stemmed from probes into Facebook’s bundling of Marketplace with its social network, which drew a €797.7 million ($923.6 million) fine in 2024 for anti-competitive tying. Regulators countered they stuck to Meta’s own terms, numbering in hundreds, to probe dominance in social networks and display ads.
Stakes and Takes
The EU saw the fastest growth in five years in 2024, with Meta’s ad revenues reaching $21.61 billion, up 22.3% YoY.
According to forecast, revenues will reach $30.77 billion by 2027, with annual growth normalizing between 11% and 13%.
In summary, as regulations tighten the controls on personalized targeting, Meta’s European ad engine is heating up. Such opinions are frequently followed by judges; a decision in the near future could impose more fines, indicating stricter DMA enforcement and compelling Meta to reconsider its data strategies in the face of increased international scrutiny.