Facebook, Instagram users can opt for less personalized ads

Meta Platforms has been offering EU an ad-free subscription option for nearly a year to comply with the continent’s data privacy rules, but regulators had accused the company of giving people a false choice

Facebook and Instagram users in Europe will get the option to see less personalized ads if they do not want to pay for an ad-free subscription, social media company Meta said Tuesday, complying with Brussels over privacy and digital competition concerns.

Meta Platforms has been offering EU an ad-free subscription option for nearly a year to comply with the continent’s data privacy rules, but regulators had accused the company of giving people a false choice.

The company said in a blog post that while people will still be able to choose between the subscription and existing free versions, it would also start giving free users an extra option over the coming weeks to see digital ads that are less personalized.

This means ads will be targeted at users based only on what they see during their current session on Facebook or Instagram going back no more than two hours, plus minimal personal information such as age, location, gender as well as how they engage with ads.

Data from all of a user’s previous time spent on Facebook or Instagram, which is typically combined to precisely target an individual with tailored ads, won’t be used.

While this new choice is designed to give people an additional control over their data and ad experience, it may result in ads that are less relevant to a person’s interests, Meta said in a blog post. That means people will see ads that they don’t find as interesting. This drop in relevance is inevitable given that drastically reduced data is being used to show these less personalized ads to people.

People who choose the new option will see ad breaks that can’t be skipped for a few seconds, Meta added.

EU regulators had accused Meta of breaching the 27-nation bloc’s digital rules when it gave user the option to pay a monthly fee to avoid being targeted by ads based on their personal data.

The U.S. tech giant had rolled out the option after the EU’s top court ruled Meta must first get consent before showing ads to users, in a decision that threatened its business model of tailoring ads based on individual users’ online interests and digital activity.