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The European Commission had previously aired concerns that Meta’s ad model might breach EU law.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced a change to what has been dubbed its ‘pay or consent’ ad model for users in the European Union (EU).
The Wall Street Journal said in an exclusive report published today (12 November) that the company plans to provide these users with choice of the new ad format, without paying a fee, according to those who have been briefed on the plans.
The social media platform confirmed the changes in a blogpost, saying it would “significantly reduce the price of subscription for no ads”, while EU users could also use Facebook and Instagram for free with less personalised ads.
“In the less personalised option, we will use significantly less data to show ads, so ads may be less relevant to a person’s interests,” the company said.
“We are implementing these significant changes in response to demands from EU regulators, even though the feedback goes beyond what is required in the law.”
The ad model was first introduced last year as a way to balance out its advertising practices with the EU’s various data protection laws. However, it has been heavily criticised as a ‘pay or consent’ smokescreen that aims to justify a massive collection of data, a practice that complainants have said is illegal under GDPR.
Since then, the social media giant has received several warnings from regulatory bodies regarding the model.
In April 2024, the European Data Protection Board said that offering only a paid alternative to services which involve the processing of personal data for behavioural advertising purposes “should not be the default way forward” for controllers.
In July, the European Commission said that this binary choice “forces” users to consent to the combination of their personal data and is therefore deemed to be incompatible with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This was shortly followed by a letter from the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network, which listed several ways this advertising model might be considered unfair and contrary to EU consumer laws.
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