European Union privacy regulators are seeking to prevent Meta from requiring users to agree to seeing personalised ads based on their activity online.
Meta platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, have allowed users to opt out of personalised ads based on their data from other websites for several years, but the company has not provided the same option for ads that use data about user activity on its own apps.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a board representing all EU privacy regulators has approved a series of decisions ruling that EU privacy law does not allow Meta to use their terms of service as a justification for allowing personalised advertising.
The EU regulators believe that if a ‘significant’ portion of Meta users opts out of ad data targeting, Facebook and Instagram subsequently have a reduced number of consumers to offer to advertisers to target with personalised ads.
While the rulings have not been made public as of yet, Meta is likely to appeal any decision in favour of allowing users to opt out pf personalised ads.
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“This is not the final decision and it is too early to speculate,” a Meta spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.
“We’ve engaged fully with the DPC [Ireland’s Data Protection Commission] on their inquiries and will continue to engage with them as they finalize their decision.”
Insider Intelligence principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson added: “The rulings would have a dramatic impact on Meta’s revenue in Europe, kneecapping its ability to use information about its users’ on-platform activities in order to sell targeted advertising.
“Europe had already been the region with Meta’s largest losses in users and revenue. It has been hit hard by Apple’s privacy changes, which limit the amount of information Meta can glean from its users’ off-platform activities. And given a weaker Euro, the company will continue to face strong headwinds in the region.
“However, we expect Meta to fight vigorously to defend its business, and it could be months, if not years, before any impact is truly felt.”
