Choose to Lose with Meta

Meta has been rolling out changes to its service in the EU in November 2023 which require Facebook and Instagram users to, either consent to the processing of their data for advertising purposes by the company, or pay in order not to be shown advertisements.

However, the tech giant’s pay-or-consent approach is unfair and must be stopped.

BEUC has filed a complaint with the network of consumer protection authorities (CPC) on grounds of Meta engaging in unfair commercial practices in multiple ways:

1. Meta is partially blocking the use of Facebook and Instagram until users have selected one option or the other, which constitutes an aggressive practice under European consumer law. Through persistence and by creating a sense of urgency, Meta pushes consumers into making a choice they might not want to take.  

2. In addition, many consumers likely think that, by opting for the paid subscription as it is presented, they get a privacy-friendly option involving less tracking and profiling. In fact, users are likely to continue to have their personal data collected and used, but for purposes other than ads.  

3. Meta provides misleading and incomplete information to consumers which does not allow them to make an informed choice. Meta is misleading them by presenting the choice as between a paying and a ‘free’ option, while the latter option is not ‘free’ because consumers pay Meta through the provision of their data, as past court rulings have already declared.

4. Given the market power of Meta's Facebook and Instagram services in the EU and the very strong network effects of social media platforms (since all your friends are on Facebook and Instagram), consumers do not have a real choice because if they quit the services they would lose all their contacts and interactions built over the years. The very high subscription fee for ‘ad-free’ services is also a deterrent for consumers, which means consumers do not have a real choice.    

The BEUC members participating in this action are: Асоциация Активни потребители (Bulgaria), dTest (Czech Republic), Forbrugerrådet Tænk (Denmark), UFC-Que Choisir (France), EKPIZO & KEPKA (Greece), Adiconsum (Italy), Latvijas Patērētāju interešu aizstāvības asociācija (Latvia), Vartotojų aljansas (Lithuania), Consumentenbond (Netherlands), Forbrukerrådet (Norway), Federacja Konsumentów & Fundacja Konsumentów (Poland), Spoločnosť ochrany spotrebiteľov (S.O.S.) Poprad (Slovakia), ZPS (Slovenia), Asufin & CECU (Spain), Sveriges Konsumenter (Sweden), Union Luxembourgeoise des Consommateurs (Luxembourg) .