Digital rights organization Eko filed complaints with data protection authorities in multiple European countries on Thursday, challenging US technology giant Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) over its targeted advertising practices. Five thousand members of the group filed complaints with the data protection watchdogs in Norway, Germany, and Spain after having collected evidence that Meta had disregarded their explicit user requests to opt out of data collection and targeted advertising.

The complaints are grounded in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the EU, due to which Meta had introduced ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram that require users to purchase a paid subscription while other users continue to receive a free service funded by revenues from advertising. Eko aims to prompt regulatory actions through its complaint filings.

This comes after civil rights group Equal Rights Center filed a lawsuit against Meta earlier this month alleging that it unlawfully discriminated against Black users by advertising for-profit colleges to them, while advertising public colleges to white users. Further, Meta has faced ongoing scrutiny in Europe over its data collection and advertising practices, with the Court of Justice of the European Union ruling in October that Meta must restrict its use of personal data harvested through its platforms for targeted advertising purposes, even when users have consented to such use. This also follows a similar decision by the European Data Protection Board, which found Meta’s method of obtaining user consent for behavioral advertising had violated EU law.