By Edith Hancock
DOW JONES–Facebook parent company Meta Platforms’ revised “pay-or-consent” advertising model continues to be criticized. The European Consumer Association has called on the European Union to take action against the model because of the possible violation of consumer and data protection as well as competition law.
The European Consumer Organization criticized Meta’s policy, which gives European users the option to receive “less personalized advertising” in their social media feeds without having to subscribe.
Meta introduced the model in November. In the previous model, users were given the option to pay a monthly subscription fee to prevent their data from being shared with advertisers.
“European consumers should not be fooled by the cosmetic changes Meta is applying to its year-old ‘pay-or-consent’ model,” said Agustin Renya of the European Consumer Association. Meta’s policy does not even address the fundamental problem that users of Facebook and Meta do not have a fair choice.
The group, which represents 44 independent consumer organizations from 31 EU countries, criticized Meta for using unclear terms and confusing interface design, which it alleges pushes users towards Meta’s preferred option.
A Meta spokesman rejected the allegations and referred to a blog entry in November 2024 in which the company announced that the revised model even exceeded EU requirements in some cases. The EU launched an investigation in March 2024 and punished the company four months later for violating the Digital Markets Act.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 23, 2025 02:39 ET (07:39 GMT)
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