BEUC assessment of Meta’s latest pay-or-consent policy for Facebook and Instagram users

In this analysis, BEUC suspects Meta’s latest pay-or-consent subscription mechanism, which Facebook and Instagram users began seeing in November 2024 following heavy criticism of the first subscription mechanism the tech giant rolled out in 2023, breaks several EU laws.

BEUC urges the EU to quickly conduct an in-depth investigation into whether Meta’s latest pay-or-consent mechanism in the EU complies with EU law (consumer and data protection law and the Digital Markets Act) and to take quick and effective measures if it does not.

Meta requires Facebook and Instagram users to consent to invasive use of their data for advertising purposes or pay a reduced subscription fee to see a no-ads version of the service. The Silicon Valley company provides users, in a second step and once users consent to use of their data for ads, with the option of a ‘less personalised ads’ experience.

BEUC however believes that Meta’s latest ‘pay-or-consent’ mechanism continues to be in breach of EU consumer law (the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive), the General Data Protection Regulation (the GDPR), and the Digital Markets Act.