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.”

  • DdCno1@kbin.social
    3·
    7 months ago

    Very interesting. Lots of news websites are operating on a very similar principle, with the user having to either accept all cookies or pay for an expensive subscription that allows them to opt out of tracking cookies. I’ve always thought that this couldn’t possibly be legal.

  • unphazed@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    7 months ago

    Serious question to Europeans: “How the hell did you get a group of people to actually give two fucks about you?” Seriously, here in the US even my goddamn local BOE is doing shady greedy shit. It’s all fucking corrupting so fast and without even a semblance of shame or privacy.

  • cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    Too bad that i left its platforms due to it.

    That said, i dont expect this to be their last exploit of user rights.

    Its actually fairly fast reaction from EU considering they ok introduced their pay or ok model in November.

    I dont believe that paying really was a viable option anyway, as they set the price so high but it could be interesting to see how many actually chose to pay!

    • designated_fridge@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      I was close to it. I’m an advocate for paying for services I use. We’re way too used to getting everything for free and we should be willing to pay for services we appreciate.

      Which made me realise that Facebook especially I don’t appreciate. So I quit instead. It had value to me once but those times are long gone.

  • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    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
      1·
      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.

        • towerful@programming.devEnglish
          0·
          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

    • Undaunted@feddit.deEnglish
      0·
      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
        0·
        7 months ago

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

          • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            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.

  • Plopp@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    I mean tracking exists because advertisers pay more for targeted ads, based on the tracking. I’d rather prefer it if the EU just made tracking illegal. Deal with the problem at its root.

    Also maybe ban ads that track clicking on them (to then give a bigger payout). Advertisers should pay for simply showing me the ad and putting their brand/product in my brain.
    And if we remove the option for targeted ads based on user tracking, the price for plain and simple old school ads might rise again, which is a very good thing for websites and users.

    • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      We have to be real here, that nobody has ever really consented to being tracked in the way these giant sites do it. Nobody has looked at that form and gone “I’m perfectly OK with 1698 different advertising agencies knowing my real name and interests, every time I’m online”

      They go “yeah, whatever, get that popup the fuck out of my face so I can read this fascinating article about some 19 year-old pop star’s boob job”.

      Part of it should be legislation. Another part should be browsers rendering fingerprinting to be completely ineffective.