The EU’s Data Protection Board (EDPB) has told large online platforms they should not offer users a binary choice between paying for a service and consenting to their personal data being used to provide targeted advertising.
In October last year, the social media giant said it would be possible to pay Meta to stop Instagram or Facebook feeds of personalized ads and prevent it from using personal data for marketing for users in the EU, EEA, or Switzerland. Meta then announced a subscription model of €9.99/month on the web or €12.99/month on iOS and Android for users who did not want their personal data used for targeted advertising.
At the time, Felix Mikolasch, data protection lawyer at noyb, said: “EU law requires that consent is the genuine free will of the user. Contrary to this law, Meta charges a ‘privacy fee’ of up to €250 per year if anyone dares to exercise their fundamental right to data protection.”
The EU standard also leaves much to be desired, although it is still light years away from the (non-existent) US regulation. Now, the terms must be separated, it is legitimate for a company to finance its services, either by a monthly payment, or by placing advertisements. What is not legitimate is placing advertisements based on the user’s activities and data that are recorded and sold to third parties, because this, apart from a violation of the right to privacy, is also a real risk for the user, since they have no more control over this data and how it is used or protected. Dozens of sensitive data leaks (banking, medical and others) in the past from Fakebook, Google, Amazon… clearly show this risk. It is therefore to be welcomed that the EU cuts off the tap on these companies.