Meta’s ‘pay or consent’ model in breach of EU tech rules, says Brussels

In yet another blow to big tech, the EU is charging Meta with breaching the bloc’s sweeping online competition rules, known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Alongside Google and Apple, Meta is among the tech giants (designated as “gatekeepers“) required to comply with the landmark law as of March this year.

A mere two weeks after the act kicked in, the European Commission opened an investigation into all three companies, expressing concerns that the measures they introduced were falling short of complying with the DMA.

In the case of Meta, this concerns the “pay or consent” model for data sharing.

The model provides EU users of Facebook and Instagram with a binary choice. They can either use the platforms for free and consent to data collection for advertising purposes, or they can pay a monthly fee for the ad-free tier and protect their data from being shared.

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Meta hoped that this choice would satisfy the DMA’s requirement for companies to obtain explicit user consent before combining or cross-using personal data across different core platform services.

Now, the European Commission has published its preliminary findings, determining that the model is in breach of the rules.

The regulator said that this binary choice fails to provide users with an equivalent version of the social networks that uses less personal data. It also doesn’t allow users to “freely consent” to the combination of their personal data because of the financial barrier.

If the conclusion of the EU’s investigation confirms that Meta is violating the rules, then the tech giant faces fines of up to 10% of its total worldwide turnover. The amount can increase up to 20% in case of repeated breaches.

The EU takes on big tech

Armed with the new power of the DMA, the EU is taking on the monopolising practices of big tech.

Last week, the European Commission announced that Apple is breaching the law, warning the Cupertino-based company that the App Store still prevents app developers from “freely steering” consumers to alternative options.

“We are dealing with the biggest and most valuable companies on the planet,” EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said during a speech last week.

“The DMA is not an excessive ask,” she said, adding that it’s “plain vanilla to ask for a fair, open, and contestable marketplace.”