Late last week, I got the notice from Meta that I, a person living in the EU, would need to either agree to see ads on Facebook and Instagram—with the targeting coming from me being tracked around online—or pay at least €9.99 ($10.68) per month for an ad-free experience (it’s €3 more if I pay on mobile, due to Apple’s commission).
This is supposed to bring Meta into compliance with Europe’s data protection laws, after a ruling earlier this year in which the EU’s top court scrapped the company’s existing legal justification for ad-targeting. The aim of those laws is to protect my fundamental rights to privacy and data protection, as promised under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
