The recent paid subscription to Facebook and Instagram do not respect the GDPR, decided the European data protection watchdog. A hard blow for Facebook which must review its way of operating in the EU.
It was a long-awaited opinion published by the European Data Protection Board (EDPS). After being seized by several European CNILs and taken to court by consumer defense associations, the paid subscription for access to Facebook and Instagram without advertisements was deemed incompatible with European rules for the protection of personal data, GDPR in the lead.
Neither subscription nor data exploitation
Anxious to comply with European rules, Meta began in 2023 to offer a subscription at €9.99 per month for Facebook and Instagram in order to offer an alternative to financing via the collection of personal data. Unfortunately for the company, this mechanism nicknamed “Pay or accept» was also found to be incompatible with EU rules.
In his opinion, the EDPS explains that the “fundamental right to data protection» cannot be summed up as “a binary choice» forcing users who wish to preserve their privacy to pay. “When developing an alternative to a service based on the exploitation of personal data, access controllers must offer an equivalent solution that does not require payment of a subscription», specifies the EDPS.
Concretely, this means that Meta will have to change its approach again and offer access to Facebook which is neither based on the exploitation of personal data nor on the payment of a subscription. A bolt from the blue for the company which will therefore have to find a third way to monetize its platform, just a few months after promising that its paid subscription was indeed “complies with the evolution of European regulations“.
A warning for the entire web
As the only clue to navigate this crest line, the EDPS explains that Facebook will have to rely on a form of advertising that does not exploit “little (or no) personal data“. In short, Facebook and Instagram will have to provide a service without targeted advertising, with much more general advertising therefore. Enough to seriously shake up the economic model of the firm which has always relied on the exploitation of personal data to increase its turnover.
Beyond the thunderclap that this represents for Meta, the EDPS opinion is also a warning for all other platforms exploiting the private lives of Internet users to enrich themselves. Unless they want to go to war against the EU, everyone will soon have to offer a model that is more respectful of personal data, with Google, Amazon and Microsoft in the lead. Enough to make the web giants tremble.
Source : European Data Protection Board
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