Meta considering subscription option for UK Facebook users
Meta is considering a subscription option for UK Facebook users after it agreed to stop targeting a campaigner with adverts based on her personal data.The technology company said the social network it owns and Instagram were “free for British consumers because of personalised advertising”.
It comes after Meta agreed to stop targeting adverts at human rights campaigner Tanya O’Carroll after she filed a lawsuit against Facebook’s collection of personal details.
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Meta said it was “pleased to draw a line under this long-running case”.
A spokesperson said: “We fundamentally disagree with the claims made by Ms O’Carroll, no business can be mandated to give away its services for free.
“We take our UK GDPR obligations seriously and provide robust settings and tools for users to control their data and advertising preferences.
“Facebook and Instagram cost a significant amount of money to build and maintain, and these services are free for British consumers because of personalised advertising.
“Like many internet services, we are exploring the option of offering people based in the UK a subscription and will share further information in due course.”
Meta already offers an advert-free subscription option to users in the EU.
Previously:
* Facebook to stop targeting ads at UK woman after legal fight
Meta considering subscription option for UK Facebook users
The technology company said Facebook and Instagram were ‘free for British consumers because of personalised advertising’.Sam Hall (Evening Standard)
Facebook to stop targeting ads at UK woman after legal fight
Facebook has agreed to stop targeting adverts at an individual user using personal data after she filed a lawsuit against its parent company, tech giant Meta.Tanya O'Carroll, 37, who lives in London and works in the tech policy and human rights sector, said it would open a "gateway" for other people wanting to stop the social media company from serving them adverts based on their demographics and interests.
The Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data watchdog, said online targeted advertising should be considered direct marketing.
In a statement, Meta said it provided "robust settings and tools for users to control their data and advertising preferences".
Ms O'Carroll, who created her Facebook account about 20 years ago, filed a lawsuit against Meta in 2022, asking it to stop using her personal data to fill her social media feeds with targeted adverts based on topics it thought she was interested in.
"I knew that this kind of predatory, invasive advertising is actually something that we all have a legal right to object to," Ms O'Carroll told Radio 4's Today Programme.
"I don't think we should have to accept these unfair terms where we consent to all that invasive data tracking and surveillance."
It was when she found out she was pregnant in 2017 that she realised the extent to which Facebook was targeting adverts at her.
She said the adverts she got "suddenly started changing within weeks to lots of baby photos and other things - ads about babies and pregnancy and motherhood".
"I just found it unnerving - this was before I'd even told people in my private life, and yet Facebook had already determined that I was pregnant," she continued.
Facebook to stop targeting ads at UK woman after legal fight
Tanya O'Carroll says her case opens a "gateway" for others wanting to stop personalised adverts.Grace Dean (BBC News)
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ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝
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in reply to ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝 • • •ns1 likes this.
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tal
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MrNesser
in reply to ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝 • • •Show Facebook what happened when banks wanted to charge a fee for an account or for us to take money out of our own accounts at atma in the he UK
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Echo Dot
in reply to atro_city • • •Yeah but the UK isn't in the EU anymore (yay so much benefit).
So Facebook are trying it on, although they seem to have misread the situation since although technically the UK isn't in the EU the EU's laws still applying the UK in most cases. Despite the machinations of the Conservatives, who are on par with the GOP in terms of scumminess.
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