The European Union recently announcedPreliminary determinationIn addition to Apple violating the Digital Markets Act, the EU also found MetaAlso violates the Digital Market Law, because Meta currently only provides users with the option to agree to use their personal privacy in exchange for free use of services, orUse service features in a paid mannerThe option leads users to choose to provide their privacy in order to avoid paying. Therefore, it is believed that Meta’s plan selection design induces users to choose free plans.
In the European Commission's preliminary investigation into Meta, it was found that Meta only provided polarized options, which led many users to choose to pay to use Meta's Facebook, Instagram and other services in order to avoid charges. This induced users to choose free plans and then obtained their personal privacy information. Therefore, Meta was preliminarily determined to have violated the Digital Markets Act.
However, Meta responded that it developed the ad-free paid subscription plan under the ruling of the European Supreme Court, and emphasized that it did not violate the Digital Markets Act, stating that it would engage in further dialogue with the European Commission.
In the European Commission's view, Meta should offer two options: one for full privacy and the other for paid use. It should also provide some privacy and personalized advertising options to give users more choices, rather than setting a relatively high payment threshold to induce most users to use the service for free.
Similar to Apple's preliminary ruling, Meta has until the end of March 2025 to make adjustments. Otherwise, if the European Commission finds Meta has violated the Digital Markets Directive, it will face a fine of 3% of its annual revenue.
