Meta targeted by a new complaint from European consumers for its paid subscription

Consumer associations from eight European countries filed a complaint on Thursday, February 29, with the personal data protection authorities against the paid subscription system set up by Meta on Facebook and Instagram, accused of violating the rules of the European Union (EU).

For these organizations, including UFC-Que Choisir, in France, this system of paying to avoid being targeted by advertising is “a smokescreen intended to divert the consumer’s attention from the illicit processing of their personal data”.

Since November, Meta has offered European users of Facebook and Instagram the choice between continuing to use these services for free by agreeing to provide their personal data for targeted advertising purposes, or paying a subscription to no longer see advertisements.

This formula was presented by the American giant as a way of complying with European rules on the processing of personal data, which have already earned it several convictions and fines. But Meta is once again accused of violating the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

“This kind of surveillance-based business model poses all sorts of problems with GDPR. It is time for data protection authorities to put an end to Meta’s abusive processing of data and violation of fundamental rights” of users, estimates Ursula Pachl, deputy director general of the European Consumers’ Union (BEUC).

Complaints from associations are filed in a coordinated manner with the data protection authorities in France, Slovenia, Spain, Slovakia, Denmark, Norway, Greece and the Czech Republic. The decision will be centralized, and should in principle fall to the Irish data protection authority, since it is in this country that Meta’s European headquarters is established.

Denunciations for “abusive commercial practices”

Last November, BEUC and nineteen of its members filed complaints against this Meta policy with the European consumer protection monitoring network, denouncing “abusive commercial practices”this time with regard to EU consumer law.

The Austrian privacy organization NOYB, at the origin of several proceedings against the tech giants, had for its part contacted the data protection authority of its country, accusing Meta of circumventing the GDPR.

Likewise, “the analysis of BEUC and its members shows that the way Meta requests consent is not compliant” to this regulation, establishes the organization in a report. The GDPR requires that consent be “freely given”while Meta “attempts to force consumers to accept the processing of their personal data”she denounces.

Since November, each user of an Instagram or Facebook account refusing the collection of this data must pay 9.99 euros per month if they pay via a computer, or 12.99 euros if they use smartphone applications. . Consumer organizations also accuse Meta of violating EU rules requiring it to minimize data collection to what is strictly necessary and to act with complete transparency.

“Meta seems to think that in order to make money from advertising, it is justified to collect every imaginable data on consumers’ activities, location, personality, behavior, attitudes and emotions”, denounces BEUC in its report. At the same time, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), which brings together the competent national authorities, must issue an opinion by the end of March on this type of formula.