Meta warned Wednesday that European users could face a “materially worse” experience following a key regulatory decision of the European Commission.
Meta recently introduced a “consent or pay” model that leaves users to choose between paying a monthly subscription or let Meta combine data that he has collected on Facebook and Instagram.
Last week, the European Commission – The EU executive – announced that it had decided that the model does not comply with the law on digital markets (DMA) and a fine of 200 million euros (171 million pounds sterling).
“Based on the comments of the EC in relation to the DMA, we expect us to make changes to our model,” Meta said in his quarterly results statement.
Meta said he expected these changes “could lead to a materially worse user experience for European users and a significant impact” on its European activities and its income.
The company said that these impacts could start this year and may be in force as it calls the decision.
They would not apply to Users of the United Kingdom, where META has not implemented its subscription model without advertising.
He is currently in discussion with the UK data guard dog, the office of the Information Commissioner, on a similar model for British users and what it could look like.
Eric SOFERT, analyst at Mobile Dev Memo, said META could try to strategically transform European users into “cheerleaders” for its products in the midst of a regulatory repression.
“What they ultimately want to do is return public opinion against this regulatory regime which will obviously degrade the products of products available for EU residents,” only said BBC during a telephone interview after the announcement.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, includes the network of social media in addition to the Instagram photo sharing application and the WhatsApp messaging service.
The Commission said that the Meta consent or paying model does not allow users to freely consent to the way their data is used.
The body currently assesses another META option introduced last year, which, according to the company, uses fewer personal data to display advertisements.
Meta was given 60 days to comply with the recent DMA decision, or risks new fines.
Apple also received a fine of 500 million euros (428 million pounds sterling) during its App Store practices last week.
Meta’s announcement intervenes when she published quarterly results that beat Wall Street’s expectations.
The results have shown that META continues to produce significant advertising revenues.
The company praised its IA tools on Wednesday.
“We are making good progress on AI and Meta Ai glasses, which now has almost a billion monthly assets,” said Meta founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, in a statement.
“Our community continues to grow and our business behaves very well,” he said.
Matt Britzman, senior action analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the results showed that Meta had “in full investment in AI”.
Britzman also noted 6% of daily active users.
“There had been concerns that we could see a slowdown in new users this year, but it was a very strong start and a signal for investors that Meta’s family of applications has a grip on users who is difficult to move,” said Britzman.
The fine of the CE intervenes in the middle of what Meta called “an active regulatory landscape” in her report on gains.
The company is currently defending itself at the trial in a case filed by the Federal Trade American Commission which alleges that Meta manages a monopoly on social networks.
The FTC, the best antitrust guard dog in the United States, indicates meta cementation its monopoly by buying Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.