Things are heating up for Meta! The UFC-Que Choisir and other associations have once again filed a complaint with the CNIL against the American company. At issue: its paid subscription for Facebook and Instagram would violate the GDPR.
To comply with European Union requirements regarding the use of personal data – and more particularly the Digital Services Act and the GDPR –, Meta has been offering paid subscriptions for several months to access Facebook and Instagram without advertising. And suffice to say that the bill is steep, since you have to pay €9.99/month to not be “tracked” on the Web version of Meta’s social networks, or €12.99/month on the Android and mobile applications. iOS (see our article). Anonymity is expensive! Of course, it is possible to continue to use the classic versions of the two social networks for free by accepting targeted advertising and tracking. A solution which above all resembles a sleight of hand to circumvent the legislation and which makes many associations cringe.
Also, last November, nineteen associations, including UFC Que Choisir, took Meta to court for unfair and misleading commercial practices – the choice imposed by the company would be contrary to Europeanized consumer law. The consumer protection association is doing it again, this time filing a complaint, with seven other European associations, with the National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (CNIL), citing “non-compliance by the company with the provisions of the GDPR”as we can read in the press release. For the association, it would just be a smokescreen.
Meta: uninformed consent from users
Following several court decisions by European authorities regarding the collection and processing of users’ personal data, Meta is in theory obliged to comply with the GDPR, the European data protection regulation, which requires the collection of a informed consent before any processing of personal data – it must be as easy to refuse as to accept this processing. The problem is that users’ choices are far from informed. According to UFC-Que Choisir, these “are not able to assess the extent or consequences of the data processing carried out by Meta, which makes any valid consent totally impossible, illusory and ineffective”.
Additionally, Meta’s data collection practices go beyond what is necessary, while the company does not specify “the precise purpose of each type of processing carried out on these collected data”. In short, no chance that the user will be able to understand the changes induced by the subscription – especially since the communication from Mark Zuckerberg’s firm is quite opaque on this subject.
Another problem: European legislation requires companies to limit the collection and processing of personal data to what is strictly necessary. However, Meta does not hesitate to suck up as much data as possible, while not revealing the extent of its practices, hiding behind deliberately ambiguous language. “In reality, the company uses so-called ‘spy’ technologies present in the majority of applications and websites in order to carry out constant profiling of consumers, which is based on real-time analysis of their activities, their geolocation , their personality, their behaviors, their attitudes, their emotions…”, explains the French association. We are far from what the GDPR requires… This is why UFC-Que Choisir filed a complaint with the CNIL, to which it officially asks to “force Meta to comply with the rules and principles of the GDPR”.