Around 30 privacy advocacy NGOs are urging the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) to voice opposition to Meta’s policy of charging users who refuse personal data exploitation.
Since November, users of Facebook and Instagram, Meta’s social networks, have had to pay a subscription if they want to access ad-free versions that don’t use data collection for targeted advertising.
The EDPB, which consists of data protection agencies from EU countries as well as Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, needs to determine by March end whether such policies consistently violate European privacy regulations.
Meta argues that the subscription model aligns them with stringent European laws amidst numerous legal losses against Brussels while privacy advocates see this as an unfair practice and an infringement of consumer rights.
"We call on the EDPB to decide in line with the fundamental right to data protection," wrote 28 organisations, including NOYB and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, in a letter to the European body.
They believe this system, forcing users to either pay or accept data exploitation, takes away users’ freedom to choose to accept or reject the processing of their personal data, a cornerstone of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) effective since 2018.
Critics argue the policy commoditises privacy, turning it into a pay-to-use service. The opinion of the EDPB was sought by data protection authorities in the Netherlands, Norway, and Hamburg, Germany.
Meta’s European users can subscribe for 9.99 euros per month via web, or 12.99 euros through iOS or Android apps.
NOYB, an organisation founded by Austrian lawyer Max Schrems, filed a complaint in November with the Austrian data protection authority, as did others in Germany, the Netherlands and Norway.
European consumer groups have also lodged a complaint with the European network of consumer protection authorities.
