EU Commission notifies Meta of DMA non-compliance
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The Commission's preliminary view is that Meta's "pay or consent" model forces users to consent to their personal data being combined, without providing a less personalized but equivalent service.
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European Commissioner for Europe fit for the Digital Age, Margrethe Vestager speaks during a media conference regarding the Digital Markets Act at EU headquarters in Brussels, on March 25, 2024. (AP)
The European Commission announced, on Monday, that it had informed Meta (banned in Russia for extremism) of its preliminary findings that the "pay or consent" advertising model did not comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to maintain fair competition in EU digital markets.
In March, the EU Commission began investigating tech giants like Alphabet, Apple, and Meta for alleged violations of the Digital Markets Act.
"Today, 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 personalized but equivalent version of Meta's social networks," the statement read.
The EU Commission has determined that Meta's "pay or consent" advertising model fails to comply with the DMA as it "does not meet the necessary requirements," according to the statement.
"In particular, Meta's model: i. Does not allow users to opt for a service that uses less of their personal data but is otherwise equivalent to the 'personalized ads' based service. ii. Does not allow users to exercise their right to freely consent to the combination of their personal data," the statement read.
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The commission stated that users who do not consent should still have access to an equivalent Meta service that uses less of their personal data for ad personalization, ensuring compliance with the DMA.
According to the DMA, companies must make their messaging applications interoperable with third parties and allow users to choose which applications to preinstall on their devices. They are prohibited from prioritizing their own services over competitors' or from preventing users from removing preinstalled software or applications. Non-compliance can result in fines of up to 10% of a company's global annual revenue and up to 20% for repeated violations, along with other restrictive measures, including the potential obligation to sell the business in the EU.
Read next: EU probes Apple, Google, Meta under new digital law
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