Meta succumbs to DMA with 'less personalized ads'

Meta succumbs to DMA with ‘less personalized ads’

Meta adds “less personalized ads” on Facebook and Instagram, in response to demand from European regulators under the DMA.

Meta appears to be complying with Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules after all. Indeed, Mark Zuckerberg’s company is under legal pressure because of its “pay or agree” model. That model puts users before a binary choice: share data with Meta for advertising purposes, or pay up. This binary choice violates the DMA, according to the European Commission.

Surely Meta now seems to be changing that. The company writes in a blog post that subscription prices without ads will be lowered, and the free subscription will include “fewer personalized ads. It is not yet clear whether this move is enough to avoid possible sanctions.

Pay or agree

Meta has been under legal pressure for a long time. The European Commission launched an investigation this summer into Meta’s “pay or agree” model. That would violate the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which states that users should have freedom of choice about what data they share or do not share. With the “pay or agree” model, Meta does not offer its users a choice. Don’t want to share your data? Then you pay a subscription fee.

Less personalized

Meanwhile, Meta seems to be returning to this model anyway, with a 40 percent cut in the subscription price without ads. In addition, users in the EU will have an additional choice to use Facebook and Instagram for free with “less personalized ads. “In the less personalized option, we will use significantly less data to display ads, so ads may be less relevant to a person’s interests,” the blog reads.