The European Center for Digital Rights has sued Facebook and Instagram's subscription service in the Austrian data protection office. The organization argues that Meta in this way creates an illusion of data protection choice and makes users pay for their basic right to privacy.
Free access to this article is provided to you by MU Group.
Meta has introduced a paid subscription without ads on Facebook and Instagram to avoid new European Union regulations. However, users who do not want to use free access to the services must consent to their data being tracked, which means giving up their right to privacy. This policy has been challenged by the European Center for Digital Rights (noyb), an Austrian non-governmental organization dealing with online privacy.
"EU law requires that consent be the true free will of the user. Contrary to this law, Meta charges a "privacy fee" of up to 250 euros a year if someone wants to exercise their basic right to data protection," argues in a press release Felix Mikolasch, data protection lawyer at noyb.
The new ad-free subscription is priced by Meta at 9.99 euros per month in a web browser or 12.99 euros in an app for iOS or Android systems. Users also have to pay an additional 6 or 8 euros per month for each additional account.
Max Schrems, founder and president of the noyb organization, refers to a Meta report, which shows that from the third quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2023, the average revenue per user in Europe was 16.79 euros, which gives an annual revenue of 62.88 euros per person. Particularly burdensome are the additional fees for people using both Facebook and Instagram, who have to pay over 250 euros a year.
Noyb warns that over 20% of European Union residents are at risk of poverty due to the introduced system, emphasizing that the cost of subscription is "very disproportionate" compared to the profits the company makes from tracking user behavior.
- When 3 percent of people actually want to swim, and the rest end up in the water, every child knows that it was not a "free" choice. It is neither wise nor legal - it's just pathetic how Meta continues to ignore EU law - adds Max Schrems.
"If Meta succeeds in defending this new approach, it will likely trigger a domino effect. TikTok is already reportedly testing an ad-free subscription outside the United States" - add the noyb representative in a press release.
If other social platforms went in a similar direction, European Union citizens would be obliged to pay a "fee for using basic rights", which could even reach several thousand euros a year for people using an average number of installed apps on their phone.
- According to Google, the average person has 35 apps installed on their smartphone. If all these apps followed in Meta's footsteps and charged a similar fee, people would have to pay 8815.80 euros a year. For a family of four, the price of data privacy would rise to 35263.20 euros, an amount greater than the average full-time income in the EU - comments Schrems.
Noyb has committed to fight and has already filed a complaint with the Austrian data protection authority, demanding that Meta stop the illegal processing of data and impose a fine. The organization claims that most users do not want their data to be used for personalized ads, and many of them agree to tracking only when they have to pay for services.
At the end of February, Microsoft bought shares in the French startup Mistral AI. This company, which has been in existence for less than a year, is now valued at 2 billion dollars and is described as a threat to the position of OpenAI. What does this tell us about the European technological ecosystem and its chances of catching up with the world?
The year 2023 passed under the sign of AI and everything indicates that nothing will change in this respect in the next one. But what exactly can we expect? And what other trends will take over the world in 2024? Let's look into the future, based on data and official announcements.
As the only company in the world, it is able to produce processors in the most advanced 3 nm technology. In addition, it owns the most expensive factory ever built, and its clients are Apple, NVIDIA and Intel. How did it happen that Taiwanese TSMC became one of the most important companies in the world?
After a five-day media scandal surrounding his dismissal, Sam Altman officially returns to the position of CEO of OpenAI. The company succumbed to the pressures of shareholders and its employees.
English