Platforms should not confront users with 'binary choice' over personal data use

The EU’s Data Protection Board (EDPB) has told large online platforms they should not offer users a binary choice between paying for a service and consenting to their personal data being used to provide targeted advertising.

In October last year, the social media giant said it would be possible to pay Meta to stop Instagram or Facebook feeds of personalized ads and prevent it from using personal data for marketing for users in the EU, EEA, or Switzerland. Meta then announced a subscription model of €9.99/month on the web or €12.99/month on iOS and Android for users who did not want their personal data used for targeted advertising.

At the time, Felix Mikolasch, data protection lawyer at noyb, said: “EU law requires that consent is the genuine free will of the user. Contrary to this law, Meta charges a ‘privacy fee’ of up to €250 per year if anyone dares to exercise their fundamental right to data protection.”

  • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.worldEnglish
    550·
    7 months ago

    The EU is clueless. They think they are going to bypass the advertising model and that users are going to pay hundreds of dollars for all the services. They will continue to fall behind the US and China and they don’t have a plan. There is going to be backlash when news organization pull out just like Canada.

    • misk@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      401·
      7 months ago

      Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, worrying that I don’t see as many ads as the Yanks do.

      • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.worldEnglish
        221·
        7 months ago

        Or the service will just go away 🤷‍♂️ Or you end up spending $200/mo replacing them.

        • misk@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          24·
          7 months ago

          Oh no, not the Facebook! I can’t even imagine the world without all the good that it does!

    • Undaunted@feddit.deEnglish
      13·
      7 months ago

      Oh yes please make Meta pull all their crap out of the EU. I can’t wait for it!

      • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.worldEnglish
        13·
        7 months ago

        I’d be concerned with other services. Facebook is irrelevant in the larger policy push.

        • Undaunted@feddit.deEnglish
          4·
          7 months ago

          What services do you think are worth letting them violate my rights to my personal information?

          • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.worldEnglish
            01·
            7 months ago

            Plenty. I don’t want to pay full price. YT, TikTok, and insta are great. I use sheets/docs for some minor personal stuff too.

          • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            7 months ago

            What’s going to replace YT? Or insta? You going to go door to door to have everyone convert to signal?

            • gian @lemmy.grys.itEnglish
              1·
              7 months ago

              What’s going to replace YT? Or insta?

              Maybe nothing in the short term, but it is not that improbable that something will emerge. YT and insta are here just because they were the first, not that it is clear that there is a market (or a use for these kind of services), once you remove the one who don’t follow the laws, other will emerge.

        • towerful@programming.devEnglish
          7·
          7 months ago

          I always thought Facebook was useful to me. Until one day I decided to stop. A week later I deleted my account.
          Turns out Facebook wasn’t useful to me.
          And I can’t see a future where it will be.

          WhatsApp is currently useful to me.
          And considering EUs current ruling, I imagine there will be WhatsApp compatible apps soon. Besides, if meta leaves the EU, everyone will move to telegram or signal or whatever.

          So no, I don’t think it will be useful to me one day. And I’d be quite happy to see it go

          • VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            3·
            7 months ago

            While WhatsApp is certainly useful, there are better alternatives, and a pullout would lead to bigger adoption of those. I think WhatsApp has its user base mainly because of inertia.

            All hypothetical, I don’t think Meta is gonna give up the EU market any time soon.