Meta may face daily fines over pay-or-consent model, EU warns
Meta may face daily fines if limited changes that it has proposed to its pay-or-consent model fail to comply with an antitrust order issued in April, EU regulators warned on Friday.
Image by Reuters/Dado Ruvic.
Meta may face daily fines if limited changes that it has proposed to its pay-or-consent model fail to comply with an antitrust order issued in April, EU regulators warned on Friday.
The warning from the European Commission, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, came two months after it slapped a 200-million-euro ($234 million) fine on the US social media giant for breaching the Digital Markets Act (DMA) aiming at curbing the power of Big Tech.
The EU executive said Meta's pay-or-consent model introduced in November 2023 breached the DMA in the period up to November 2024, when it tweaked it to use less personal data for targeted advertising. The Commission has been scrutinising the changes since then.
The model gives Facebook and Instagram users who consent to be tracked a free service that is funded by advertising revenues. Alternatively, they can pay for an ad-free service.
The EU competition watchdog said Meta will only make limited changes to its pay-or-consent model rolled out last November.
“The Commission cannot confirm at this stage if these are sufficient to comply with the main parameters of compliance outlined in its non-compliance Decision,” a spokesperson said.
“With this in mind, we will consider the next steps, including recalling that continuous non-compliance could entail the application of periodic penalty payments running as of 27 June 2025, as indicated in the non-compliance decision.”
Meta had no immediate comment but must surely be worried about the development as the aforementioned daily fines can be as much as 5% of a company's average daily worldwide turnover.