By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – META PLATFORMS REVISED PAID AD-FREE SERVICE MAY STILL BREACH EU PRIVACY, CONSUMER LAWS, CONSUMER GROUP SAYS
CONSUMER GROUP URGES EU REGULATORS TO ACT AGAINST META
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:)’ revised no-ads subscription service should still breach EU client and privateness legal guidelines along with antitrust guidelines, the European Client Organisation (BEUC) mentioned on Thursday because it urged regulators to behave in opposition to the U.S. tech large.
Meta, which rolled out the fee-based service for Fb and Instagram in 2023, subsequently provided European customers the choice to obtain much less personalised advertisements and a 40% lower within the charges final yr.
BEUC, which complained in regards to the fee-based service to client safety authorities in 2023, mentioned the adjustments made final yr had been beauty.
“In our view, the tech giant fails to address the fundamental issue that Facebook and Instagram users are not being presented with a fair choice and is making a weak bid to argue it is complying with EU law while still pushing users towards its behavioural ads system,” BEUC Director Normal Agustin Reyna mentioned.
“It is important for consumer and data protection authorities and the European Commission to quickly investigate Meta’s latest policy and, if needed, take immediate and effective measures to protect consumers,” he mentioned.
BEUC alleges that Meta’s deceptive practices and unclear phrases steer customers in direction of its most well-liked choice.
The patron group additionally mentioned it isn’t attainable for customers to freely consent to their knowledge being processed and that Meta doesn’t minimise the info it collects from customers.
BEUC additionally accused Meta of degrading the service to customers who don’t comply with using their private knowledge.
Meta has mentioned final yr’s adjustments had been in response to calls for from EU regulators. The corporate was charged by EU antitrust regulators in July final yr for breaching the Digital Markets Act, saying its paid ad-free service constituted a binary selection for customers.
