BEUC and NOYB oppose Meta's pay-or-consent model

Freepik

I am sure you have noticed that in early November, Meta launched paid subscriptions for its social media. Now you may choose to stop receiving targeted advertisements on Facebook and Instagram under one condition -  you have to pay €9.99/month on the web or €12.99/month on the iOS and Android versions of the apps. Of course, without payment, you can still use the services, but then you have to accept the personalised advertisements, which means you accept that your data is processed for this purpose. This Meta policy is the result of various disputes with European institutions and national supervisory authorities related to Meta's practices of processing users' personal data (including the July ruling in case C-252/21 where the CoJ criticised some of Meta's illegal approaches to personal data)*.

The very announcements of paid subscriptions have already triggered a wave of criticism. So it didn't take long for the first steps to challenge the legitimacy of the Meta's actions. A few days ago NOYB, which is a non-profit organization led by privacy activist Max Schrems, announced that it filed a GDPR complaint against Meta over "Pay or Okey". According to NOYB, such a "privacy fee" is not only illegal, since you cannot be forced to pay for exercising your fundamental right to privacy, but moreover, it risks having a domino effect and being taken over by other leading players in the digital services market as well. 

But this is not the only step against Meta's new practice. Today BEUC, which is a European Consumer Organization, also has voiced its opposition to this practice, stating that it is "an unfair choice for users, which runs afoul of EU consumer law on several counts and must be stopped". Thus, BEUC together with its 19 members filed a complaint on grounds of Meta engaging in unfair commercial practices in multiple ways. As BEUC stated, partially blocking the use of Facebook and Instagram until users have selected one option or the other constitutes an aggressive practice under European consumer law. What is more, opting for the paid subscription doesn't guarantee that a user gets a privacy-friendly option involving less tracking and profiling - user's personal data still may be collected and used but for purposes other than ads. More detailed assessment of Meta's subscription model you can find here. 

It remains to be seen how these actions will affect the Meta approach in the future. One thing is certain - the story will have its continuation, perhaps before the Court of Justice.

*The Court, inter alia, questioned Meta's legal grounds for processing personal data for personalization purposes, i.e. Article 6(1b) of the GDPR (the necessity of processing data for the performance of a contract), and Article 6(1f) of the GDPR (the processing of data on the basis of legitimate interests of the controller or a third party) - see paragraphs 97-126 of the ruling.