European Union today Digital Markets Act (DMA) He shared an important development regarding. Authorities; Owner of tech giants like Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp Meta broke the law announced. Meta became the second tech giant, after Apple, to face penalties for violating the law.

According to the EU statements, Meta’s reason for violating the law is due to the “pay money or watch ads” approach. Authorities, users not enough freedom he thinks.

Breaking the law by not offering a third option that uses less personal data

Meta introduced an advertising model for Facebook and Instagram users in Europe last year. In this model, those who paid had an ad-free experience, while those who didn’t pay saw ads.

The company’s users have to pay money or see advertisements.you forced‘ Finding that Meta does not offer a third option that uses less data and is also free to use He stated that he had violated the DMA on that basis. In other words, what is against the rules is not offering a free separate version that uses less personal data. It was added that in this way users do not have full control over their own data and do not see less ‘personalized’ ads.

A Meta spokesperson said in a statement that the paid ad-free subscription complies with the DMA. He added that they would be in talks with the European Commission to end the investigation.

Billions of dollars in fines could be imposed

The company has until next year. If a violation is found after the investigation is completed, revenue will be generated worldwide 10% can be punished up to . According to 2023 data, this is the case 13.4 billion dollar It equates to an amount of approx. Moreover, if he continues to violate the DMA, we could even see the fine increase to 20%.