Meta squares up for fine fight with Brussels over personalised ads

Tech major Meta wants to find a way to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and avoid future penalties with its less-personalised ads option for European users.

Meta lost its long-running battle with the Commission over its so-called ‘pay or consent’ advertising model on Wednesday when it was fined €200 million as part of the first penalty enforcement under the DMA.

The company’s top lobbyist, Joel Kaplan, condemned Wednesday’s decision to fine Meta’s model as “attempting to handicap successful American businesses”.

The Commission’s truck with Meta’s advertising model is longstanding. In  November  2023, Meta rolled out its pay‑or‑consent model to European users after the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) clarified what constitutes “consent” under the GDPR.

The model presents Facebook and Instagram users with two options: “continue for free”, where they consent to Meta processing their personal data to generate personalised ads; or “pay a monthly fee”, which withholds that consent so that users browse ad-free.

In July 2024, the Commission concluded that the model violated the DMA.

In its preliminary findings, the EU executive criticised the “binary choice” of the model that “forces users to consent to the combination of their personal data” and “fails to provide them a less personalised but equivalent version” of Facebook and Instagram.

After a few months of deliberation, the Commission announced on Wednesday that Meta’s practices between March and November 2024 should be fined under the DMA.

Apple and Meta slapped with EU fines

The fines are the first imposed under the EU’s Digital Markets Act – but the two European commissioners in charge are abroad for the occasion.

Meta adjusted its advertising model in November 2024 to introduce a third option of “less personalised ads.” This setting gives EU users “contextual advertising” based on “minimal” data collection. The company also added short, unskippable ad breaks in what it called a “low‑data” environment and insisted the overhaul “goes beyond what EU law requires.”

Concerns remain

The advertising model is not just a DMA concern for policymakers; it also raises data‑protection and consumer law issues, said Anu Talus of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB).

The EDPB has already issued an opinion against the model and plans to go further, she added.

Meta’s latest version still violates the DMA and the GDPR rules, says the European consumer‑rights umbrella group BEUC.

Privacy activist Max Schrems dismissed the third more personalised option as a “smokescreen,” noting that it forces users to endure unskippable ad breaks before they can resume scrolling. That’s “nothing any user seriously wants,” he argued.

The saga is far from over. Meta now has 60 days to bring its practices in line with the DMA or face recurring penalty payments. Whether the “less‑personalised ads” truly satisfy the DMA will be the focus of those 60‑day talks.

(jp)