European Union accuses Meta of breaking digital rules with paid ad-free option [Video]

European Union regulators accused social media company Meta Platforms on Monday of breaching the bloc’s new digital competition rulebook by forcing Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing ads or paying to avoid them.

Meta has been giving European users the option since November of paying for ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram as a way to comply with the continent’s strict data privacy rules.

Desktop browser users can pay about 10 euros ($10.50) a month while iOS or Android users pay roughly 13 euros to avoid being targeted by ads based on their personal data.

The U.S. tech giant rolled out the subscription option after the European Union’s top court ruled that under strict EU data privacy rules, Meta must first get consent before showing ads to users.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said preliminary findings of its investigation show that Meta’s “pay or consent” advertising …