Meta Falls Afoul of Europe’s Regulators

Maybe tech companies need to put European regulators on their boards! The European Commission on Monday added Meta Platforms to the list of companies that are not complying with its new Digital Markets Act. The agency doesn’t like the fact that Meta is giving Europeans the choice of either paying a subscription fee for Facebook and Instagram, or paying nothing and agreeing to the use of their data in targeted advertising.

In the commission’s view, the new law means anyone who says no to targeted ads should have the option of an “equivalent” version with less-personalized ads. In other words, the EU is telling Meta it has to design yet another version of the service for European residents. It’s just the latest example of how European regulators are increasingly telling tech companies how to operate.