Meta to offer Facebook, Instagram users in EU less targeted ads

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Under pressure by EU regulators, Meta said Tuesday it was offering non-paying users of its Facebook and Instagram services in the bloc the ability to do so with less targeted ads, as well as cutting its subscription rates.

The move follows the European Commission accusing the U.S. social media giant in July of breaching the bloc's digital rules with its "pay or consent" system that meant users had to pay to avoid data collection, or agree to share their data with Facebook and Instagram to keep using the platforms for free.

"Today, we are announcing important changes to Facebook and Instagram in the EU... people who choose to continue using our services for free will now also be able to choose to see less personalized ads," Meta said in a statement on its site.

Meta said that over the coming weeks users in the EU would have the choice of seeing "less personalized ads" when they use Facebook and Instagram.

"This less personalized ads option relies on less data, so we'll show ads based only on context—what a person sees in a particular session on Facebook and Instagram—and a minimal set of data points, including a person's age, location, gender, and how a person engages with ads," said Meta.

Meta launched last year its paid ad-free service or required users to consent to data collection and targeted ads to comply with the EU's new Digital Markets Act.

However, Brussels objected to the pay-for-privacy model, and Meta faced a fine of up to 10 percent of its global revenue if it did not find an alternative to address the concerns of EU regulators.

Meta also announced a 40 percent reduction in the ad-free subscription on smartphones to 7.99 euros ($8.50) per month. Web subscriptions drop to 5.99 euros per month.

Last month, the EU's top court ruled that Meta must limit the use of personal data for targeted advertising.