Meta’s proposal to use less personal data for targeted advertising in its pay-or-consent model that will be rolled out next month won the approval of EU antitrust regulators on Monday, signaling the company will not face daily fines after all.
The Meta investigation underscores Europe’s continued crackdown on Big Tech despite U.S. criticism, and its willingness to settle cases rather than levy hefty fines when possible to avoid escalating trans-Atlantic tensions.
The U.S. tech giant has been locked in discussions with the European Commission after getting hit with a 200 million euro ($233 million) fine in April for breaching the Digital Markets Act aimed at reining in the power of Big Tech.
The violation covered Facebook and Instagram in the period from November 2023 to November 2024, after which Meta tweaked its pay-or-consent model to use less personal data for targeted advertising.
The EU executive has been examining the changes to see if they comply with the DMA, with Meta risking daily fines of as much as 5% of its average daily worldwide turnover if found to be still in breach of the law.
The tweaks are in wording, design and transparency to remind users of the two options. Meta did not plan on any substantial changes to its November proposal despite the risk of EU fines, people with direct knowledge of the matter had told Reuters.
The Commission, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, acknowledged Meta’s November proposal, saying that it will monitor the new ad model and seek feedback, with no more talk of periodic fines.
“Meta will give users the effective choice between consenting to share all their data and seeing fully personalised advertising, and opting to share less personal data for an experience with more limited personalised advertising,” the Commission said in a statement.
