Meta offered EU users only a binary 'consent or pay' choice — €200M DMA fine

On 23 April 2025 the European Commission fined Meta €200 million for breaching the Digital Markets Act with its 'Consent or Pay' advertising model. Under the DMA, a gatekeeper must seek users' consent to combine their personal data across services, and users who refuse must still get a less-personalised but equivalent alternative.

In November 2023 Meta introduced a binary choice for EU users of Facebook and Instagram: consent to the combination of their personal data for personalised advertising, or pay a monthly subscription for an ad-free service. There was no third, less-personalised but free option.

The Commission found the model did not give users the specific choice the DMA required — to opt for a service that uses less of their personal data but is otherwise equivalent to the personalised-ads service. It also found the model did not let users freely exercise their right to consent to data combination.

The €200 million fine was the Commission's first-ever non-compliance penalty under the DMA, handed out on the same day Apple was fined €500 million under the same regulation. Meta was ordered to comply with the DMA's consent obligations.