Europe’s leading privacy enforcement NGO has filed a complaint against Meta over its introduction of an ad-free, paid subscription to its Instagram and Facebook services before the Austrian data protection authority.
The complaint, filed by NOYB—European Center for Digital Rights—centers on the tech giant’s decision to introduce a two-tier model in the EU earlier this month. It requires users to consent to being tracked for targeted advertising or pay a €9.99 monthly fee to use its Instagram and Facebook social networking sites without being tracked.
Though filed in Austria where NOYB is based, the complaint will likely be handled by the Irish Data Protection Commission, which is responsible for policing Meta’s enforcement of EU privacy laws because it has its European headquarters in Ireland.
If the Irish agency finds Meta violated EU privacy rules with the paid subscription, it could face a fine of up to 4% of its annual global turnover.
Meta’s introduction of the paid, ad-free versions of its products followed a July judgment from one of Europe’s highest courts that found Meta’s handling of user data for personalized ads violated the bloc’s privacy laws over questions of consent.
When it announced the changes, Meta said the judges “expressly recognized” that a paid subscription model constitutes a valid form of consent to online tracking and personalized advertising under the bloc’s seminal GDPR privacy bill. “The option for people to purchase a subscription for no ads balances the requirements of European regulators while giving users choice and allowing Meta to continue serving all people in the EU, EEA and Switzerland,” it said.
NOYB, short for None of Your Business, disagrees. The privacy watchdog said consent needs “to be freely given” under the bloc’s privacy rules. It described the cost of the fee as “unacceptable,” “way out of proportion” and warned that Meta’s paid ad-free model could set off a “domino effect” if other tech giants followed suit.
“Fundamental rights are usually available to everyone. How many people would still exercise their right to vote if they had to pay €250 to do so?” NYOB founder and chair Max Schrems said in a statement. The amount is NOYB’s estimate of the annual cost of using Facebook and Instagram under Meta’s model.
Schrems and Meta have a long history. Meta, whose business model heavily relies on advertising revenue, has been hit with a €1.2-billion fine, the largest GDPR fine ever, as a result of a complaint Schrems filed a decade ago. Meta has said it will appeal the fine.
Meta has been represented by Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, Latham & Watkins, Mason Hayes & Curran and CMS among others in previous lawsuits centering on data protection issues before the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union.
