Meta’s new subscription model in the EU has been directly accused of violating the GDPR, with eight consumer groups across Europe filing a new lawsuit.
In a controversial move last year, Meta introduced a payment option for Facebook and Instagram users to pay for an ad-free experience. The ad-free experience costs €9.99 per month on web and €12.99 per month on mobile and prevents users from seeing ads on the platform.
However, those who choose not to pay will continue to have their data collected, tracked, and sold to third parties.
The move follows an EU ruling that Meta has no legitimate legal basis to collect personal data under the GDPR and must provide users with a free and fair choice to opt out of data tracking. It was done.
But their new policy gives users the option to pay for privacy, which experts and data privacy advocates were quick to criticize as giving users an unfair choice.
Eight consumer associations within the BEUC network, along with national data protection authorities, have now formally launched a complaint against the tech giant over its “pay or consent” model.
This complicates a complaint that BEUC and 19 of its members filed with consumer protection authorities last year accusing Meta of “misleading and offensive” conduct.
“Meta has repeatedly attempted to justify subjecting its users to mass commercial surveillance. The unfair ‘pay or consent’ option is the company’s latest attempt to legitimize its business model. ” said Usra Pakul, Deputy Director-General of the European Consumer Organization (BEUC).
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“But what Meta is offering consumers is smoke and mirrors to cover up its age-old essence: collecting all sorts of sensitive information about people’s lives and monetizing it through an invasive advertising model.” is.
“Surveillance-based business models raise all kinds of problems under the GDPR, and it is time for data protection authorities to stop Meta from its unfair data processing and violation of people’s fundamental rights.”
