Meta Platforms must restrict the use of personal data harvested from Facebook for targeted advertising, Europe's top court ruled on Friday, backing privacy activist Max Schrems.

Once again, the European Union has issued a ruling preventing Meta from going too crazy with user information. The top court in the EU ruled that limits must be put in place for how long Meta and other social media networks can use people’s information for ad targeting strategies.

Europe's top court has found against Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) over its approach to data retention in its continental ad business -- a ruling set to add hurdles for social media names looking to garner European ad dollars.

The European Union's top court has sided with a privacy challenge to Meta's data retention policies. It ruled on Friday that social networks, such as

Social media platforms such as Meta's Facebook must limit the use of personal data including someone's sexual orientation for targeted advertising, the European Union's top court ruled Friday.The regulation "precludes" all data obtained by a social network operator "from being aggregated,

Europe's top court on Friday sided with Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems in his privacy dispute with Meta Platforms. Schrems had taken his grievance to an Austrian court, saying he had been targeted by advertisements directed at homosexuals as a result of Meta's personalised advertising based on processing of personal data.

Meta faces yet more restrictions on its core ad business in Europe, following a ruling by the EU’s top court. In its Friday ruling, the Court of Justice of the EU confirmed that the principle of “data minimization"—one of the many rules in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation—means a social network like Facebook can’t simply use all of a user’s data,