Europe's data regulator is moving to extend a ban imposed by non-EU member Norway on "behavioral advertising" on Facebook and Instagram to cover all 30 countries in the European Union and the European Economic Area, it has announced.

Behavioral advertising allows advertisers and publishers to display highly relevant ads and personalized marketing messages to users based on their web-browsing behavior, essentially targeting users by harvesting their data.

The ban on such advertising is a setback for U.S. tech giant Meta Platforms, the owner of the two social media services, which has opposed efforts to curb the practise. Meta runs the risk of getting fined up to four percent of its global turnover, the Norwegian data regulator said.

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The decision by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) is an instruction to the data regulator of Ireland, where Meta's European headquarters are located, to impose a permanent ban on the company's use of behavioral advertising within two weeks, EDPB said in a statement.

"On 27 October, the EDPB adopted an urgent binding decision... to impose a ban on the processing of personal data for behavioral advertising on the legal bases of contract and legitimate interest across the entire European Economic Area," it said.

Meta on Wednesday said it had already said it would give users in the EU and the EEA the opportunity to consent, and would offer, in November, a subscription model to comply with regulatory requirements.

"EDPB members have been aware of this plan for weeks and we were already fully engaged with them to arrive at a satisfactory outcome for all parties," said a company spokesperson. "This development unjustifiably ignores that careful and robust regulatory process."

Since August 7, Meta has been subject to daily fines in Norway of 1 million crowns ($90,000) for breaching users' privacy by using their data, such as locations or browsing behavior, for advertising, a business model common to Big Tech. The Norwegian data regulator, Datatilsynet, in September said it had referred the ongoing fine to the European regulator, as its fine was valid in Norway only.

That fine will expire on November 3, but Meta could risk a much heavier financial penalty, according to Tobias Judin, the head of Datatilsynet's international section.

"Since we now will get a permanent ban, non-compliance with the EU/EEA-wide ban would in itself be a violation of the GDPR, which could be sanctioned with up to 4 percent of global turnover," Judin said.

GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation, is the EU's ruling on information privacy. Norway is not a member of the EU but is part of the European single market.

The decision affects some 250 million Facebook and Instagram users in Europe, Datatilsynet said, out of about two billion users worldwide.

To continue collecting data, Meta will now have to get consent from each user in each country of the EU and the European Economic Area, where about a fifth of its advertising sales come from. 

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