The parent company of Facebook and Instagram could face a fine of several billion euros if the preliminary findings of the European Commission are confirmed.
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New massive fine in sight for the social media giant? The European Commission found that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, violated the rules on the use of the personal data of its users to display them targeted advertisements, according to the conclusions of a preliminary investigation published Monday July 1 .
Meta must ask its users for consent to combine data from its various services for advertising profiling purposes, according to the European Digital Markets Regulation (DMA). To comply with this obligation, the American group has been offering its European users the option of not receiving targeted advertising since November 2023, but only if they agree to pay a subscription, for a monthly price of between 9.99 and 12.99 euros. To maintain free access to Facebook and Instagram, you must always agree to provide your data.
“According to our preliminary findings, this is a violation.” of the DMA, which regulates the practices of digital giants in the EU, declared on the X network the Commissioner for Digital Affairs Thierry Breton. The Commission considers that by forcing Internet users to pay to refuse the processing of their data, Meta is not respecting the obligation imposed by the DMA to provide “a less personalized but equivalent alternative” to its services. The company “does not allow” neither “users to exercise their right to freely consent to the combination of their personal data” between its different platforms, according to the European executive.
Meta can now exercise its rights of defense by having access to the file and respond in writing to the preliminary conclusions. If these were confirmed, the Commission would adopt a final decision of non-compliance by the end of March 2025. Meta could then face a fine of up to 10% of its global turnover, i.e. a sanction that could exceed 12 billion euros.
Meta, for its part, claims that its subscription model “is DMA compliant”. “We look forward to continuing a constructive dialogue with the European Commission in order to close this investigation”a spokesman for the group said.
The European Commission has already singled out Apple on June 24 for allegedly violating European competition rules according to preliminary findings. An investigation targeting Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has also been opened for violations of the DMA.