Meta’s “pay or consent” model for Facebook and Instagram has been shut down by the European data protection watchdog.

Meta attempted to appease regulator’s concerns over how it harvested data for behavioural advertising by offering an add-free paid subscription offer to EU users, a model which immediately came under fire from data protection advocates.

The model arose after the EU said that Meta did not have a sufficient legal basis for the processing and sharing of user data for personalised advertisements and therefore must give users a choice to opt out of personal advertising.

Meta’s move introduced a completely ad-free experience to paying users, but those who opted not to pay would still have their data collected and sold to third-party advertisers.

The EU’s decision to disallow Meta to track users across platforms without gaining explicit consent would have dramatically shifted Facebook and Instagram’s business model, which mainly relied on ad revenue.

Privacy advocates immediately said the new pay or consent model was not consent at all. The original price for the ad-free experience was €12.99, which was eventually brought down to €5.99.

The EU Data Protection Board (EUDPB)unsurprisingly said that Meta’s system does not equal ‘freely given’ consent, free being the key word there.

“In most cases, it will not be possible for large online platforms to comply with the requirements for valid consent if they confront users only with a binary choice between consenting to processing of personal data for behavioural advertising purposes and paying a fee,” the EDPB said.

Recommended reading

• Meta’s Pay-or-Consent Model Under GDPR Fire
• Meta’s “Pay for Privacy” System Getting Pushback in EU
• Data Privacy Day: Where are We and How Did We Get Here?

Unsurprisingly, Meta has contested the decision, saying that subscription models for ads are a valid option under EU law.

While paying to remove ads is an option, providing advertisements is not the key issue: the issue is that Meta forces users to surrender their data to third-party advertisers as a condition of using their service. This is what is key to the EU’s GDPR, and why Meta has been found, yet again, in breach of the law.

Privacy advocate and founder of NOYB applauded the decision, saying that: “Overall, Meta is out of options in the EU. It must now give users a genuine yes/no option for personalised advertising. It can still charge sites for reach, engage in contextual advertising and the like – but tracking people for ads needs a clear ‘yes’ from users.”