The claims come after privacy organisations and data protection authorities voiced similar concerns in recent months.
ADVERTISEMENTEuropean consumer organisations from eight countries today (29 February) filed complaints with national data protection authorities against Meta, claiming that the US social media giant is illegally collecting user data through its subscription model for ad-free use of the platform.
The groups form part of pan-European consumer group BEUC’s network from Czechia, Denmark, Greece, France, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain, and claim Meta's subscription model does not respect principles under the EU’s general data protection regulation (GDPR), and that the tech giant has no valid legal basis to justify the collection of data of Facebook and Instagram users.
A Meta spokesperson told Euronews that the company "takes its regulatory obligations extremely serious and are confident that our approach complies with GDPR."
Meta introduced the model in October as it said the upcoming Digital Markets Act, EU competition rules for online platforms, require the company to offer consumers in the bloc an alternative way to use Facebook and Instagram.
If a person chooses to subscribe, they will not see ads and Meta will not process their information for personalised advertising. The ad-free service costs €9.99 per month for web users and €12.99 for app users on iOS or Android.
“We introduced this choice, called ‘Subscription for no ads’, as our consent solution to comply with a unique combination of connected and sometimes overlapping EU regulatory obligations with differing compliance deadlines,” a blog post said.
BEUC Deputy Director General Ursula Pachl said in a statement today that “surveillance-based business models pose all kinds of problems under the GDPR and it’s time for data protection authorities to stop Meta’s unfair data processing and its infringing of people’s fundamental rights."
Opinion
The consumer groups' claims come after privacy organisations and data protection authorities voiced similar concerns over recent months.
In January, the Dutch, Norwegian and Hamburg data protection authorities requested an opinion by the European Data Protection Board – a body that includes all the EU national data protection watchdogs – on the tech giant's behavioural advertising model. The EDPB should issue its opinion within eight weeks, by the end of March, with the possibility of a further six week extension.
Austrian privacy organisation NOYB warned that if the Meta model is legitimised, companies across all industry sectors could follow suit.
In November BEUC lodged a complaint with consumer protection authorities over the same practice.
This story has been updated with a comment from a Meta spokesperson.
