Meta Platforms is highly unlikely to make changes to its pay-or-consent model in the European Union, making it probable that the company will face large daily fines authorised by new EU regulations, Reuters reported.
The company will not propose further changes to the model unless circumstances change, the report said, citing unnamed people with knowledge of the matter.
The European Commission in June said Meta had agreed to make only limited changes to the model and warned its refusal to take further action could result in substantial daily fines under the new Digital Markets Act (DMA), which regulates tech companies that have the largest market presence.
Competition rules
The Commission said at the time it was still reviewing whether Meta’s most recent set of limited changes complied with the DMA.
If Meta refuses to make further changes, the Commission is likely to level further DMA charges against it in the coming and impose daily fines that could amount to up to 5 percent of Meta’s daily global turnover.
One of the report’s sources said the fines could be dated from 27 June but added that a final decision has not been made.
Meta referred to a previous statement saying that it is confident its current offerings comply with the DMA, that its range of choices offered to Europeans go beyond the DMA’s requirements, and that the EU is discriminating against its business model.
The Commission in April fined Meta 200 million euros (£173m) saying the pay-or-consent model breached the DMA from November 2023 when it was introduced to November 2024.
Fine risk
In November 2024 Meta introduced changes that mean less personal data is used for targeted advertising.
It is these changes that the Commission said in June were likely to fail to comply with the DMA.
The Commission fined Apple 500m euros on the same day that the Meta fine was delivered, and has said the iPhone maker also risks daily fines over failure to make sufficient changes to its App Store terms.
Apple last week appealed the Commission’s decision and fine in the EU’s General Court.