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 shopper and privateness legal guidelines along with antitrust guidelines, the European Shopper Organisation (BEUC) stated on Thursday because it urged regulators to behave towards 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 adverts and a 40% minimize within the charges final 12 months.
BEUC, which complained concerning the fee-based service to shopper safety authorities in 2023, stated the adjustments made final 12 months have 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 Basic Agustin Reyna stated.
“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 stated.
BEUC alleges that Meta’s deceptive practices and unclear phrases steer customers in direction of its most well-liked choice.
The buyer group additionally stated it’s not potential for customers to freely consent to their information being processed and that Meta doesn’t minimise the information it collects from customers.
BEUC additionally accused Meta of degrading the service to customers who don’t comply with the usage of their private information.
Meta has stated final 12 months’s adjustments have been in response to calls for from EU regulators. The corporate was charged by EU antitrust regulators in July final 12 months for breaching the Digital Markets Act, saying its paid ad-free service constituted a binary selection for customers.
