Meta platforms revealed on Tuesday, November 12, that it plans to give Instagram and Facebook users in Europe the choice to receive “less personalized ads.”
As per Reuters, this move is aimed at addressing growing concerns from EU regulators.
A spokesperson for the EU said in a statement, "The new model introduced by Meta is under Meta's sole responsibility, and it is neither endorsed by nor agreed with the Commission. It is premature to speculate about the impact on the pending non-compliance proceedings,"
The statement further added, “Our objective is to bring Meta to full and effective compliance in this matter as soon as possible."
With this announcement, EU users who access the company’s social media platform for free with ads will be able to choose to view ads based on “context” in the coming weeks.
This context will be based on the content they engage during a particular session on the platforms.
Anu Talus, chair of the EU's privacy watchdog - the European Data Protection Board, said in a statement, “While the solution still needs to be assessed, we welcome the fact that an important platform announces that it will offer a new choice for free with less detailed profiling for advertising.”
These ads will also target users on the basis of their age, gender and location, with some being unskippable for a few seconds.
In addition to this, Meta also aims to reduce the price of ad-free subscriptions by approximately 40% for European users.
