EU Consumers Take Aim at Meta Platforms’ Ad-free Service

Meta Platforms’ ad-free subscription service, a paid service launched in Europe this month, violates EU consumer laws, Europe’s largest consumer group said on Thursday as it took its complaint to consumer protection authorities.

The joint complaint by the European Union for Consumers (BEUC) and its 18 members to the Network of Consumer Protection Authorities (CPC) comes two days after the advocacy group NOYB filed a complaint with the Austrian data protection authority, which says Meta’s new service is responsible for paying to guarantee privacy.

Meta made the reference in a blog post on October 30 when it announced the move.

“The ability for people to purchase an ad-free subscription balances the requirements of European regulators while giving users choice and allowing Meta to continue serving all people in the EU, EEA and Switzerland,” the company wrote.

BEUC raised several issues.

“Meta violates EU consumer law by using unfair, misleading and aggressive practices, such as partially blocking consumers from using services to force them to make a quick decision and providing misleading and incomplete information in the process,” BEUC Deputy Director Ursula Pachl said in a statement.

BEUC said it is likely that users’ data will continue to be collected and used for other purposes even if they choose a new service. It also took issue with the “extremely high subscription fee for ad-free services”, which may have deterred users.

“At this price, consumers just agree to Meta’s profiling and monitoring, which is what the technology giant wants. People shouldn’t be asked to pay to protect their privacy, Pachl said.

The ad-free service costs €9.99 ($10.96) per month for web users and €12.99 for iOS and Android users. Meta has said these prices are in line with Google’s YouTube and Spotify premium services, as well as Netflix.