In response to demands from European regulators under the DMA, Meta is adding “less personalized ads” on Facebook and Instagram.

Meta appears to comply with the rules of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Mark Zuckerberg’s company is under legal pressure over its “pay-or-agree” model. This model offers users a binary choice: share data with Meta for advertising purposes or pay. According to the European Commission, this binary choice contradicts the DMA.

Meta now seems to be changing that. The company writes in a blog post that prices for an ad-free subscription will be reduced and the free plan will contain “less personalized advertising.” It is not yet clear whether this step is enough to avoid possible sanctions.

Pay or agree

Meta has been under legal pressure for a long time. This summer, the European Commission launched an investigation into the “pay or agree” meta-model. This would violate the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which states that users should have the freedom to decide what data they share or not. With the “pay or agree” model, Meta offers its users no choice. Don’t want to share your data? Then you pay a subscription fee.

Less personalized

Meta now seems to be returning to this model and reducing the subscription price by 40 percent without advertising. In addition, users in the EU have an additional option to use Facebook and Instagram for free with “less personalized advertising”. “With the less personalized option, we will use significantly less data to serve ads, so ads may be less relevant to a person’s interests,” the blog says.

The reduced prices apply as of today. The monthly subscription costs between 9.99 and 5.99 euros per month on the web, and between 12.99 and 7.99 euros per month on iOS and Android. Each additional Facebook or Instagram account costs four euros per month on the web and five euros per month on iOS and Android. It is not yet clear whether these changes are sufficient to comply with DMA guidelines.