British DPA will rule on ‘pay or okay’ service later this year

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the data protection authority (DPA) in the United Kingdom, shall give its opinion on Meta’s ‘pay or okay’ subscription model later this year.

Meta’s ‘pay or okay’ or ad-free subscription has been quite a hassle the last few years. Meta came up with the plan in 2023 after being imposed a fine of € 390 million by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) for unlawfully collecting personal data from Facebook and Instagram users for years.

To make sure it wouldn’t get another multi-million euro fine, Meta switched the legal basis for collecting user data. Instead of ‘contractual necessity’ the Menlo Park-based tech company changed the legal basis in its Terms of Service and EU Privacy Policy to ‘legitimate interest’.

However, the Court of Justice of the European Union put a stop to this. According to the judge, offering personalized ads on Facebook and Instagram is no ‘legitimate interest’ for collecting user data.

As a last ditch effort, Meta came up with ‘pay or okay’. For a monthly fee, the tech company promises not to collect personal information from Facebook and Instagram users for personalized ads. The subscription model went live in November 2023 in the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

Meta has been feeling the heat over its ‘pay or okay’ plan. The Austrian privacy organization Noyb called Meta’s subscription plan a ‘privacy fee’ and ‘false alternative’ to circumvent EU privacy laws. In July the European Commission announced to investigate Meta’s ad-free subscription plan.

The Information Commissioner’s Office also wants to have a say in the matter. Earlier this year the British DPA asked publishers, advertisers, intermediaries, civil society, scientists and other interested stakeholders what they think of Meta’s ‘pay or okay’ plan and not be tracked for online advertising.

“We are considering the responses received and will set out the ICO’s position later this year,” Stephen Almond, ICO’s Executive Director of Regulatory Risk, said in a statement.

“Following engagement with Meta, we are examining how UK data protection law would apply to any potential ad-free subscription service. We will expect Meta to consider any data protection concerns we raise prior to any introduction of a subscription service for its UK users,” he added.