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.”

  • 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

    • VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      While WhatsApp is certainly useful, there are better alternatives, and a pullout would lead to bigger adoption of those. I think WhatsApp has its user base mainly because of inertia.

      All hypothetical, I don’t think Meta is gonna give up the EU market any time soon.