Civil rights organizations urge European privacy watchdog to ban Meta’s payment model | Abroad

In November last year, Meta announced it would launch a ‘Pay or Okay’ approach, under which users either agree to be tracked or pay a privacy fee of 9.99 euros per month or more than 250 euros per year. This approach came after the European Court of Justice ruled that Meta was acting illegally with the data of its users. By monitoring the surfing behavior of its users, Meta can send personalized advertising.

Both the Dutch and Norwegian data protection authorities have already requested advice from the European Data Protection Board. This must be decided by the end of March at the latest. The NGOs are now asking the EDPB to issue an opinion “that protects the fundamental right to data protection”. “Under EU law, users must have a ‘free and fair choice’ when consenting to be tracked for personalized advertising. In reality, they are forced to pay a fee to protect their fundamental right to privacy,” adds Max Schrems of noyb.

The civil rights movements mainly fear that if this payment model is not rejected, other companies will also start using it. This is already the case in Germany, for example, through news media and others. Taking into account the fact that a European has an average of 35 apps on their smartphone, the payment model is unaffordable for many people. “The bill for data protection rights can amount to thousands of euros per year,” said Schrems. “This is probably the most important decision on EU privacy rights in a decade.”

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