The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta plans to move to a “Pay for your Rights” model, where EU users will have to pay $ 168 a year (€ 160 a year) if they don’t agree to give up their fundamental right to privacy on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. History has shown that Meta’s regulator, the Irish DPC, is likely to agree to any way that Meta can bypass the GDPR. However, the company may also be able to use six words from a recent Court of Justice (CJEU) ruling to support its approach.
Then don’t use Meta products?
If the reason why social media is free to use is because it’s subsidized or paid for by personalized ads, and they now can’t use personalized ads, I really don’t see the problem in putting it behind a paywall. Social media isn’t a public service. It’s a business. We aren’t entitled to Instagram’s free unlimited video hosting in the same way that we aren’t entitled to free movies from Netflix or free electricity from a private utility company.