The European Union’s Consumer Protection Cooperation Network has launched an investigation into Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, over what it considers a breach of European rules by establishing the model that forces users to accept the use of their personal data for commercial purposes unless they pay for it.
The European Commission announced that, together with consumer protection authorities in member countries, they have sent a letter to the technology giant urging it to provide more information on this practice, which is contrary to European regulations, specifically the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Unfair Contract Terms Directive, which ensure consumer protection.
Until September 1st to avoid sanctions
Meta has until September 1 to respond and propose alternative solutions, otherwise it faces sanctions.
The investigation was initially launched at the request of the French authorities, including the other Member States through the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network, of which the European Executive is a member. According to the institution in a statement, the investigation was launched because “overnight” Meta forced its users to choose between paying or allowing the company to use users’ personalised data to continue showing personalised ads. The bulk of the US company’s revenue comes precisely from these ads.
Other research
Consumer authorities believe that the company may have used “misleading or aggressive” practices, for example, if Meta provided sufficiently clear and reliable information about the implications of its decision. They also add that there is a fear that Meta’s decision to force users to choose could have put them under “undue” pressure for fear of losing their accounts if they did not choose one option or another. They also believe that “misleading” information was used to confuse users or “imprecise language” was used.
The announcement of this new investigation adds to others opened by the European Commission also into whether this payment model could also violate the Digital Markets Act, as well as the violation of the Digital Services Act, on illegal and harmful content for minors on social networks, or as the evaluation also by the Irish authorities for the Data Protection Regulation.
Source: www.lavanguardia.com
