The Commission has informed Meta of its preliminary findings that its “pay or consent” advertising model fails to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). In the Commission's preliminary view, this binary choice forces users to consent to the combination of their personal data and fails to provide them a less personalised but equivalent version of Meta's social networks.

Preliminary findings on Meta's “pay or consent” model

Online platforms often collect personal data across their own and third party services to provide online advertising services. Due to their significant position in digital markets, gatekeepers have been able to impose terms of services on their large user base allowing them to collect vast amounts of personal data.  This has given them potential advantages compared to competitors who do not have access to such a vast amount of data, thereby raising high barriers to providing online advertising services and social network services.

Under Article 5(2) of the DMA, gatekeepers must seek users' consent for combining their personal data between designated core platform services and other services, and if a user refuses such consent, they should have access to a less personalised but equivalent alternative. Gatekeepers cannot make use of the service or certain functionalities conditional on users' consent.

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EU Commission Investigates Meta's Advertising Model under Digital Markets Act

The European Commission has notified Meta of its preliminary findings that the 'pay or consent' advertising model may violate the Digital Markets Act by not offering users a choice beyond sharing personal data.

Gatekeepers like Meta have been accused of leveraging their market dominance to collect extensive personal data, creating barriers for competitors and limiting user choice in online advertising and social networking services.

According to Article 5(2) of the DMA, gatekeepers must obtain user consent for combining personal data and provide non-personalized alternatives if consent is withheld, without conditioning service access on consent.



EU Commission Investigates Meta's Advertising Model under Digital Markets Act

The European Commission has raised concerns over Meta's 'pay or consent' advertising model, alleging a breach of the Digital Markets Act.