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Meta Platforms' Paid Ad-free Service is Targeted in EU Consumer Groups' Complaint

FILE - The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, on June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
FILE - The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, on June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
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Meta Platforms' Paid Ad-free Service is Targeted in EU Consumer Groups' Complaint

FILE - The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, on June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
FILE - The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, on June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

Meta Platforms' paid no-ads subscription service, which it rolled out in Europe this month, breaches EU consumer laws, Europe's largest consumer group said on Thursday as it took its grievance to consumer protection authorities.
The joint complaint from the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) and 18 of its members to the network of consumer protection authorities (CPC) came two days after advocacy group NOYB filed a complaint with the Austrian privacy watchdog, saying Meta's new service amounted to paying a fee to ensure privacy.
Meta has said it launched the paid no-ads subscription service, which applies to Facebook and Instagram, to comply with EU rules requiring companies to give users a choice on whether their data can be collected and used for targeted ads.
BEUC singled out several issues.
"Meta is breaching EU consumer law by using unfair, deceptive and aggressive practices, including partially blocking consumers from using the services to force them to take a decision quickly, and providing misleading and incomplete information in the process," BEUC Deputy Director General Ursula Pachl said in a statement.
BEUC said it was likely that users' data would continue to be collected and used for other purposes even if they select the new service. It also took issue with the "very high subscription fee for ad-free services" which could deter users.
"At this price, consumers are simply going to consent to Meta's profiling and tracking, which is exactly what the tech giant wants. People should not be asked to pay for protecting their privacy," Pachl said.
The ad-free service cost 9.99 euros ($10.96) monthly for Web users and 12.99 euros for iOS and Android users. Meta has said these prices are in line with Google's YouTube and Spotify's premium services and with Netflix.

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First Artwork by Humanoid Robot Sells for $1.3m

Ultra-realistic AI robot Ai-Da is designed to resemble a human woman with a face, large eyes and a brown wig. Ben Stansall / AFP/File
Ultra-realistic AI robot Ai-Da is designed to resemble a human woman with a face, large eyes and a brown wig. Ben Stansall / AFP/File
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First Artwork by Humanoid Robot Sells for $1.3m

Ultra-realistic AI robot Ai-Da is designed to resemble a human woman with a face, large eyes and a brown wig. Ben Stansall / AFP/File
Ultra-realistic AI robot Ai-Da is designed to resemble a human woman with a face, large eyes and a brown wig. Ben Stansall / AFP/File

A portrait of English mathematician Alan Turing became the first artwork by a humanoid robot to be sold at auction, fetching $1,320,000 on Thursday.
The 2.2 meter (7.5 feet) portrait by "Ai-Da", the world's first ultra-realistic robot artist, smashed pre-sale expectations of $180,000 when it went under the hammer at London auction house Sotheby's Digital Art Sale, said AFP.
"Today's record-breaking sale price for the first artwork by a humanoid robot artist to go up for auction marks a moment in the history of modern and contemporary art and reflects the growing intersection between A.I. technology and the global art market," said the auction house.
The ultra-realistic robot, one of the most advanced in the world, is designed to resemble a human woman with a face, large eyes and a brown wig.
Ai-Da is named after Ada Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer and was devised by Aidan Meller, a specialist in modern and contemporary art.
"The greatest artists in history grappled with their period of time, and both celebrated and questioned society's shifts," said Meller.
“Ai-Da Robot as technology, is the perfect artist today to discuss the current developments with technology and its unfolding legacy," he added.
Ai-Da generates ideas through conversations with members of the studio, and suggests creating an image of Turing during a discussion about "A.I. for good".
The robot was then asked what style, color, content, tone and texture to use, before using cameras in its eyes to look at a picture of Turing and create the painting.
Meller led the team that created Ai-Da with artificial intelligence specialists at the universities of Oxford and Birmingham in England.
Meller said Turing, who made his name as a World War II codebreaker, mathematician and early computer scientist, had raised concerns about the use of AI in the 1950s.
The artwork's "muted tones and broken facial planes" seemingly suggested "the struggles Turing warned we will face when it comes to managing AI", he said.
Ai-Da's works were "ethereal and haunting" and "continue to question where the power of AI will take us, and the global race to harness its power", he added.