Belgian far-right MEP wins case against Meta over shadowban

A Belgian judge has ordered Meta to pay more than €27,000 in damages to a Belgian far-right MEP.

Meta had imposed a "shadowban," which lowers a user’s organic reach on their platforms, on the page of Tom Vandendriessche, MEP for the Belgian far-right party Vlaams Belang, in February 2021.

A Belgian judge ruled on Monday, however, that in imposing the shadowban Meta had not acted "in good faith" regarding its agreements.

It also said that users had "insufficient procedural guarantees" when Meta imposed such measures. Meta’s decision also violated the EU’s data protection regime, the GDPR.

"A first victory against Big Tech," Vandendriessche said on X, adding he would do his utmost to "restore freedom of expression on social media."

Vandendriessche is virtually certain to return to the Parliament as head of Vlaams Belang’s list for the EU election.

Meta imposed the shadowban because Vandendriessche had posted content that violated Facebook’s terms of use, such as hateful language, according to the ruling.

Meta must compensate Vandendriessche for the advertising costs he had to incur to compensate for the ban, amounting to €27,279. It also has to pay €500 in reputational damages.

Meta did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.