Scrap coercive ‘privacy fee’, MEPs urge Meta’s Nick Clegg in open letter

The argument made by MEPs is that no fee should be required to access services, as it presents a false choice between paying for an ad-free experience or consenting to invasive tracking and surveillance for targeted advertising. They propose a third option of contextual advertising that does not require personalized tracking. The MEPs urge the company to align with GDPR principles and uphold the rights of EU citizens. They argue that Meta’s demand for a “privacy fee” is a form of economic coercion and fails to obtain genuine consent as required by GDPR. Meta’s approach is criticized for making privacy unaffordable and reliant on tracking users. The MEPs call on Meta to respect EU law and abandon this self-serving mechanism. Complaints have been filed against Meta for its ad-free subscription model, which some argue breaches consumer protection rules. The European Data Protection Board is expected to issue an opinion on the “pay or okay” model in the coming weeks. The Commission’s actions in this area, including recent inquiries into LinkedIn’s data use for ad-targeting, will be closely monitored.