Internet users’ public expression of their sexual orientation does not authorise using this data “for the purposes of personalised advertising,” a legal adviser at the EU’s top court said Thursday. Austria’s Supreme Court referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) based on a case brought by Austrian internet privacy activist Max Schrems against the US giant Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Schrems contested the processing of his data, “which he considers to be unlawful”, saying he “regularly received advertisements directed at homosexuals and invitations to corresponding events”, the CJEU said in a statement. In his conclusion, CJEU Advocate General Athanasios Rantos found that even though Schrems publicly referred to his sexual orientation during a panel discussion, social networks cannot use this for targeted advertising.