Europe bans use of personal data for targeted ads on Facebook, Instagram

The EU's data regulator has banned Facebook and Instagram from using personal data for targeted advertising without explicit consent from users. To make up for an anticipated drop in revenue, parent company Meta will be offering paid subscriptions for an ad-free service.

The European Data Protection Board has adopted a binding decision to ban Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, from processing personal user data to target ads. REUTERS - Dado Ruvic

The European Data Protection Board has adopted a binding decision to ban Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, from processing European personal user data to target ads.

The decision is to "impose a ban on the processing of personal data for behavioural advertising on the legal bases of contract and legitimate interest across the entire European Economic Area”, the EDPB said in a statement Wednesday.

EDPB chair Anu Talus said the decision was taken after Meta, which has struggled to comply with the strict rules of the EU's 2018 General data protection regulation (GDPR), failed to  comply with orders issued at the end of last year.

"It is high time for Meta to bring its processing into compliance and to stop unlawful processing," she said.

The decision also follows a request from Norway's data regulator, which earlier imposed a ban on targeted advertisements on Facebook and Instagram made with data that Meta had collected without users’ explicit consent.

In order to continue collecting data, Meta will now have to obtain clear consent from each user in the 30 countries in the European Union and the European Economic Area.

Subscriptions in Europe

The decision is a financial setback for Meta, which generates about a fifth of its advertising sales from European users. Facebook had some 300 million daily users in Europe at the end of 2022, out of about two billion users worldwide.

Meta said it has already been giving European users the opportunity to consent, and as of this month it would be offering the option to purchase subscriptions to use its social media services without any advertising.

Users can pay 9.99 euros a month for ad-free use of Facebook and Instagram on their computer, or 12.99 euros a month on the phone.

The company believes that offering subscriptions for tracking-free usage will address regulators' concerns.

However, data privacy advocates will challenge the subscription model in court, arguing that users who do not pay will continue to be tracked.

(with newswires)