YouTube Ordered To Grant Austria Users Access To Their Data

Austria's data protection authority said Friday that it has ordered YouTube to comply with EU regulations and respond to requests by users for access to data that it holds on them.

In 2019, prominent Austria-based privacy campaign group Noyb (None of Your Business) lodged complaints against eight online streaming services, including YouTube and Netflix, accusing them of "structural violations" of EU data regulations.

The complaint against YouTube was filed on behalf of an Austrian user with the country's Data Protection Authority.

The regulator confirmed to AFP on Friday that it has "issued a decision... against Google LLC (YouTube)" regarding the suit brought by Noyb.

In their complaints, Noyb said the services violated the EU's landmark General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by not granting users access to data that companies store on them or information about how the data is used.

Google, which owns YouTube, "now has four weeks to comply with the decision but also has the option to appeal it", the NGO said in a statement Friday.

Noyb called the authority's decision a "win" but regretted that it took the country's regulator "five and a half years".

"Making an access request should enable (users) to exercise... rights, such as the right to erasure or rectification" of their data, the group said, but due to delays that "become impossible".

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.

Noyb has launched several legal cases against US technology giants such as Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and Google, often prompting action from regulatory authorities over violations of the GDPR.

It has filed more than 800 complaints in various jurisdictions on behalf of internet users.

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