Backed by the European Commission, the European Network of Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) sent a letter to Meta on Monday 22 July questioning the legality of its ‘pay or consent’ policy, which requires users who do not want to provide their personal data to pay a monthly fee.
Introduced last November, this system has angered numerous consumer associations across the EU (see EUROPE 13372/6).
In particular, they claim that Meta is misleading its users and forcing them to make a choice without offering them a viable alternative.
According to the European Commission, the consumer protection authorities assessed “several elements that could constitute misleading or aggressive practices, in particular whether Meta provided consumers upfront with true, clear and sufficient information”.
“Many consumers might have been exposed to undue pressure to choose rapidly between the two models, fearing that they would instantly lose access to their accounts and their network of contacts”, explains the Commission in detail.
Meta’s model is also being scrutinised by the EU as part of the Digital Markets Act (see EUROPE 13443/4) and is already the subject of preliminary conclusions.
Meta has until 1 September to make changes, failing which the CPC may decide to impose sanctions. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)