Meta's 'pay or consent' model asks users to enable the processing of their personal data or pay a monthly fee.
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00:00Brussels believes that Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, is violating European digital
00:07markets law with its consent-or-pay policy.
00:10Since last autumn, the U.S. company has been offering users either to give their consent
00:15to use their personal data for targeted ads or to pay to have an ad-free version.
00:21According to the commission, Meta is obliged to offer an alternative.
00:27We take the preliminary view that actually Meta has not shown this equivalent alternative
00:34to the end user who says no to the personal data combination.
00:40According to Europe's leading consumer organization, Meta is not offering a real choice.
00:48Meta has to change the choice screen that it has imposed on consumers since last autumn.
00:54The main thing is that it needs to provide a freely given choice to consumers.
01:01It needs to offer a freely given consent and especially it needs to provide an equivalent
01:08service to what consumers get today if consumers choose to not consent to the cross combination
01:18of their data across platform services.
01:22But when asked by Euronews, a Meta spokesperson believes the company is complying with the
01:27legislation.
01:29The ad-free subscription follows the direction of Europe's highest court and complies with
01:33the DMA.
01:35We look forward to continuing a constructive dialogue with the European Commission to bring
01:39this investigation to a close.
01:44The European Commission has until March to investigate the case.
01:49If Meta is found guilty, the company will have to pay a fine of up to 10% of its global
01:54turnover.