EU Regulators Accuse Meta of Breaching Digital Competition Rules

The European Union has accused Meta of violating the Digital Markets Act by mandating that users either accept ads or pay to avoid them. The EU's preliminary findings suggest that Meta's ad model breaches user consent rights. Meta could face significant fines if found guilty.

On Monday, European Union regulators accused Meta Platforms of breaching the bloc's rigorous digital competition regulations. The social media titan allegedly violates user rights by forcing Facebook and Instagram users to either view ads or pay a monthly fee to evade them.

Meta's initiative, introduced in November, allows European users to pay at least €10 ($10.75) monthly for ad-free browsing, in an attempt to align with stringent data privacy laws in Europe. This option was offered after the EU's top court ruled that Meta must obtain user consent before displaying tailored ads, posing a threat to the company's business model.

The European Commission's preliminary findings indicate that Meta's "pay or consent" ad model contravenes the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The commission argues that Meta fails to provide users a fair choice of whether to share their personal data for personalized ads and does not offer less personalized alternatives.

Commissioner Thierry Breton emphasized that the DMA aims to empower users and promote competition by ensuring tech giants do not monopolize digital data. Meta, now under investigation by the commission, could face fines amounting to 10% of its annual global revenue.

Meta has expressed its willingness to engage in constructive dialogue with the commission, asserting that their subscription model aligns with both the court ruling and the DMA. The company is part of a series of investigations targeting major tech firms, with similar actions recently taken against Apple and Microsoft.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)