European Consumer Organization renews criticism of Meta’s “pay-or-consent” policy

Meta’s attempt to appease consumer rights organizations in Europe continues to draw sharp criticism from consumer protection groups.

The company introduced a pay-or-consent policy on its main platforms as a response to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act.

The policy gives users of its platforms two options: give Meta consent for advertising and tracking, or pay a monthly subscription fee to avoid that.

The European Data Protection Board rejected Meta’s initial model. Meta launched a second version of its policy in late 2024. While Meta made some adjustments, the underlying principle remained the same. Users still had to choose between ads and being tracked, or a paid subscription.

According to the European Consumer Organization, the second version of Meta’s pay-or-consent model falls short again.

Key Criticisms:

• The subscription model appears to be a superficial compliance attempt
• Users are not provided a genuine choice about data usage
• Meta continues to collect excessive user data
• Alternative service options remain fundamentally unequal

The new version of Meta’s pay-or-consent policy fails to address the fundamental problems consumer groups identified in the tech giant’s pay-or-consent initial approach.

Agustín Reyna, Director General of the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), describes the changes as cosmetic only and that the revised version is not giving users “a fair choice” either.

The new policy breaches EU law in “numerous counts” according to the BEUC.

• Using misleading practices and unclear terms and confusing interface design to steer users towards Meta’s preferred option;
• Not giving to users the possibility to consent fully freely to their data being processed, while the tech giant does not minimise the data it collects from users;
• Meta degrades the service to users who do not consent to the use of their personal data.

BEUC calls on several European Institutions and organizations, including the Irish Data Protection Commission, the PCC-Network and the European Commission, to take action against Meta.

The full report is available here.