EU court adviser rejects Meta's fight against EU antitrust demands for Facebook data

BRUSSELS, Feb 26 (Reuters) - An adviser to Europe's top court on Thursday backed Meta Platforms' META.O fight against EU antitrust regulators over what the U.S. tech giant said were aberrant requests for information from the later during two investigations into the company.

Meta had taken its case to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union, questioning EU demands related to its Facebook social network and online classified ads.

"In his opinion, Advocate General Athanasios Rantos proposes that the Court of Justice dismiss both appeals and uphold the judgments of the General Court", the court said in a statement, adding that Rantos said in his non-binding opinion that the General Court "did not err in law in assessing the necessity of the information requested or in examining the safeguards for its provision."

Judges, who usually follow the majority of such recommendations, will rule in the coming months.

The cases are C-496/23 P Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission (Facebook Marketplace) and C-497/23 P Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission (Facebook Data).