Meta’s pay or consent model in crosshairs for breaching EU tech rules

Meta Platforms was charged by EU antitrust regulators on Monday for failing to comply with landmark tech rules as they took aim at the U.S. company’s newly introduced pay or consent advertising model, already the target of privacy regulators and activists’ ire.

The tech giant launched the no-ads subscription service for Facebook and Instagram in Europe last November, saying users who consent to be tracked get a free service which is funded by advertising revenues. Or they could pay for an ad-free service.