Irene faced the colossal windmill of a thousand blades with an erudite legal team, but far from the army of Meta's highly-paid lawyers. Merely facing that colossus that is Meta makes me see her as if she were Captain Marvel herself. And while the sentence against her was appealed by Meta, the legal case marks a before and after. On November 19, 2025, a court in Madrid – after months of litigation – issued the ruling: it condemned Meta to pay 542 million euros (about 627 million dollars at today's exchange rate) to Spanish media for unfair competition, after gaining an advertising advantage through the misuse of personal data from millions of users. It was not a victory that sought only silver, although the amount may seem impressive. And she achieved a victory as unexpected as it is transcendent. Irene went into the legal battlefield representing 87 members of the Spanish Media Association (AMI). They also have laws and regulations that allow them to defend themselves from the digital oppression to which they are subjected… and to achieve unexpected, but fair, victories like Irene's, who was deservedly awarded this week during the IX CELAC-EU Congress of Media Editors. It shames me that while such unequal legal battles are being fought in European courts and parliaments, most of our deputies are entangled in trivialities that show their colossal ego, the smallness of their soul, and the infinity of their ignorance, unable even to describe their constitutional duties. That is why, meeting a true heroine like Irene is like breathing fresh air: refreshing and inspiring. She is its general director, and the architect of the lawsuit, which with legal acumen identified two Meta practices that she sued for in the Spanish commercial courts. They underestimated her. Against all odds, with all the adversity a human being can carry on their shoulders, but also with weights from the front, from the side, even dragging the heavy skepticism of the media she represents, Irene launched herself against the giant windmill, the one against which the ingenious hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha charged. I met her in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), with a group of journalists and European and Latin American media executives, committed and honest in their approaches as I have rarely seen. It is a ruling whose main consequence is to protect democracy, because without media that enjoy good financial health, it is not possible to guarantee independent, serious, and courageous journalism. Irene summarized it in an interview she gave shortly after learning the ruling: 'We will continue working to achieve a greater balance in the digital environment, in which the media have real guarantees for their sustainability, can carry out their work under fair conditions, and continue to offer society rigorous and quality information.' That level of commitment makes her worthy of my deepest admiration. If the sentence is confirmed, I presume there will be more similar lawsuits, a domino effect that Meta's platforms will not want to face, so they would have to negotiate. I harbor hopes, and sincerely, I hope the law is on the side of the Spaniards, because a final sentence in their favor would have cross-border effects. While there are complaints about the bureaucracy of the European Union to protect the media – which, contrary to what happens in Panama and many other Latin American countries – there are people concerned and doing their best – and the impossible – to keep impoverished media from the old continent alive. She is an admirable woman, who, behind her serene voice and soft modulation, hides an indomitable heroine, with more courage and will than an army of males brimming with steroids. Her unhurried speech was surely interpreted by Meta's giant lawyers (the powerful company that owns Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, among others) as someone they should not fear. But yes, they are tireless when it comes to asking the Executive for money to centralize decentralization in their pockets or state money to pay their campaign pawns. If our deputies were a point of reference, the MEPs would be equivalent to gods and they only slaves of their materialistic miseries, lacking morality, unburied corpses victims of their insatiable greed and whose intellectual indigence has advanced so much that it has already made metastases in almost the entire legislative body. Her name is Irene Lanzaco. Meeting Irene was inspiring.
