The EU has Meta in its sights for forcing its users to pay to avoid advertising
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 3:51 am
The European Commission (EC) is keeping an eye on the tech giants, and is not prepared to tolerate any violation of the current rules in force on the old continent. The European Commission accused Meta yesterday of violating the new Digital Markets Act (DMA) with an advertising model that forces users to pay to free themselves from the yoke of ads on Facebook and Instagram.
Last year, the company led by Mark Zuckerberg launched a new advertising model , also known as “pay or consent,” in an attempt to comply with Brussels data privacy regulations. The backbone phone code philippines of this model is the payment of a monthly fee to access an ad-free version of Facebook and Instagram in which the user’s personal data is not used for advertising purposes. If users do not agree to open their wallets wide to pay this monthly fee, Meta reserves the right to use their personal data to personalize the advertising that appears in their “feed” on Facebook and Instagram.
The EC believes that this advertising model is not in line with the principles of the DMA , a legislative framework specifically designed to keep large technology companies on a tight leash. The European Union (EU) executive published on Monday the preliminary results of an investigation into Meta's "pay or consent" model and concludes that this model forces users to consent to the use of their personal data, compiled through multiple platforms, if they do not agree to pay.
Brussels accuses Meta of not giving its users the possibility of opting for a service that makes less intensive use of their data and that is simultaneously similar to the ad-supported version of Facebook and Instagram.
"According to the preliminary results of the investigation undertaken by the EC, the binary choice proposed by Meta forces the user to consent to the use of personal data and fails to provide a less personalized version that is equivalent in terms of functionality to the advertising model of Facebook and Instagram ," the EU executive stresses.
Last year, the company led by Mark Zuckerberg launched a new advertising model , also known as “pay or consent,” in an attempt to comply with Brussels data privacy regulations. The backbone phone code philippines of this model is the payment of a monthly fee to access an ad-free version of Facebook and Instagram in which the user’s personal data is not used for advertising purposes. If users do not agree to open their wallets wide to pay this monthly fee, Meta reserves the right to use their personal data to personalize the advertising that appears in their “feed” on Facebook and Instagram.
The EC believes that this advertising model is not in line with the principles of the DMA , a legislative framework specifically designed to keep large technology companies on a tight leash. The European Union (EU) executive published on Monday the preliminary results of an investigation into Meta's "pay or consent" model and concludes that this model forces users to consent to the use of their personal data, compiled through multiple platforms, if they do not agree to pay.
Brussels accuses Meta of not giving its users the possibility of opting for a service that makes less intensive use of their data and that is simultaneously similar to the ad-supported version of Facebook and Instagram.
"According to the preliminary results of the investigation undertaken by the EC, the binary choice proposed by Meta forces the user to consent to the use of personal data and fails to provide a less personalized version that is equivalent in terms of functionality to the advertising model of Facebook and Instagram ," the EU executive stresses.