ICO risks row for backing Meta over UK consent or pay

The Information Commissioner’s Office is risking the wrath of privacy groups by backing Meta’s launch of the controversial “consent or pay” model in the UK, which forces consumers to cough up cash if they do not want to receive ads and has already been branded “pitiful and illegal”.

The scheme, which covers both Facebook and Instagram, triggered a major backlash in the EU when it launched in November 2023, with privacy campaigner Max Schrems up in arms, claiming it took “privacy back 100 years, when only the rich could afford it”.

The European Commission recently found that this model was not compliant with the EU’s Digital Markets Act, as it did not give users the required specific choice to opt for a service that uses less of their personal data but is otherwise equivalent to the ‘personalised ads’ service. It whacked the company with a €200m (£171m) fine.

In November 2024, after numerous exchanges with the Commission, Meta introduced another version of the free personalised ads model, offering a new option that allegedly uses less personal data to display advertisements.

While the Commission is currently assessing this new option and continues its dialogue with Meta, it is thought that this is the model it is introducing in the UK. Users will pay £3.99 a month to escape advertising; the plan costs up to €12.99 a month in the EU.

The ICO, which declared such schemes were perfectly legal in the UK back in January, said in a statement: “Following our engagement with Meta about how it uses personal information for its advertising model, we welcome its decision to ask users for consent to use their personal information to target them with ads.

“This moves Meta away from targeting users with ads as part of the standard terms and conditions for using its Facebook and Instagram services, which we’ve been clear is not in line with UK law.

“People must be given meaningful transparency and choice about how their information is used. At the same time, the ICO recognises that online platforms, like every business, need to operate commercially. There are a number of ways online platforms can do this in compliance with UK law and the ICO’s guidance.

“During the course of our engagement with Meta, it significantly lowered the starting price point at which users would be offered a subscription. As a result, users in the UK will be able to subscribe at a price point close to half that of EU users.

“We will continue to monitor the roll-out of Meta’s service changes, as well as the broader impacts of consent or pay models in online markets, to ensure consumers are empowered to make choices and are able to give their consent freely.”