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European Union Accuses Facebook Owner Meta of Breaking Digital Rules with Paid Ad-free Option

FILE PHOTO: A security guard stands watch by the Meta sign outside the headquarters of Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc in Mountain View, California, US November 9, 2022. REUTERS/Peter DaSilva/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A security guard stands watch by the Meta sign outside the headquarters of Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc in Mountain View, California, US November 9, 2022. REUTERS/Peter DaSilva/File Photo
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European Union Accuses Facebook Owner Meta of Breaking Digital Rules with Paid Ad-free Option

FILE PHOTO: A security guard stands watch by the Meta sign outside the headquarters of Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc in Mountain View, California, US November 9, 2022. REUTERS/Peter DaSilva/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A security guard stands watch by the Meta sign outside the headquarters of Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc in Mountain View, California, US November 9, 2022. REUTERS/Peter DaSilva/File Photo

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, The Associated Press said.
Desktop browser users can pay about 10 euros ($10.50) a month while iOS or Android users will pay roughly 13 euros to avoid being targeted by ads based on their personal data.
The US 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 model was in breach of the 27-nation bloc’s Digital Markets Act.
The commission said Meta's model doesn't allow users to exercise their right to “freely consent” to allowing their personal data to be used to target them with online ads.
The commission had opened its investigation shortly after the rulebook, also known as the DMA, took effect in March. It's a sweeping set of regulations aimed at preventing tech “gatekeepers” from cornering digital markets under threat of heavy financial penalties.
“The DMA is there to give back to the users the power to decide how their data is used and ensure innovative companies can compete on equal footing with tech giants on data access,” European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who oversees the bloc's digital policy, said in a statement.
Meta now has a chance to respond to the commission, which must wrap up its investigation by March 2025. The company could face fines worth 10% of its annual global revenues, which could run into the billions of euros.
“Subscription for no ads follows the direction of the highest court in Europe and complies with the DMA," Meta said in a statement. "We look forward to further constructive dialogue with the European Commission to bring this investigation to a close.”
Under the Digital Markets Act, Meta is classed as one of seven online gatekeepers while Facebook, Instagram and its ad business are among about two dozen “core platform services” that need the highest level of scrutiny.

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AI is Becoming Ingrained in Businesses Across Industries. Where is it Going in 2025?

(AP Illustration/Jenni Sohn)
(AP Illustration/Jenni Sohn)
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AI is Becoming Ingrained in Businesses Across Industries. Where is it Going in 2025?

(AP Illustration/Jenni Sohn)
(AP Illustration/Jenni Sohn)

As artificial intelligence continues to grow at a rapid pace, more and more businesses are grappling with how to adapt both quickly and responsibly.

Dan Priest is the new Chief AI Officer at PwC, one of the world's largest consulting firms, where he works with companies across industries as they adopt this burgeoning technology both into their day-to-day operations and future business models. He says 2024 was all about proving what AI brings to the table — and expects 2025 will shift more into scaling it.

Priest recently spoke with The Associated Press about his new role and other AI business predictions his team has for the year ahead. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: When did PwC decide it wanted a Chief AI Officer? A: We launched the role in early July, on the heels of us doing an AI impact analysis and strategy for the firm. The motivation was simply to make sure we were tapping into AI's full potential, responsibly, to best serve our clients. We work with companies across a range of sectors — including tech, health care and hospitality.

Q: What have the companies you work with told you about how they're adopting AI? A: AI is showing up in some form or fashion for the majority of our clients these days. In a recent survey that we did of Fortune 1000 companies, nearly half of respondents said AI is fully embedded in their workflows — and then about a third had even embedded it in their products and services.

And AI is more than just a tech initiative, it's also adjusting business strategies. CEOs overwhelmingly recognize that AI will impact their business model in some way — with about 73% of those we spoke to in a predictions report saying that they believe AI would cause a shift in their business model. In particular, we're increasingly seeing generative AI both in the presence of the consumer and throughout product development.

Q: Can you give me examples of what that looks like? A: To be competitive, companies can’t just predict what consumers want anymore. You have to give them a way to personalize the specific products and services they want — and gen AI has a means of doing that.

Take a business in the cruising sector, for example. In the past, cruise lines would have to predict what each type of foods, products and excursions people wanted. Now, with gen AI, they can have a personalization engine that says, “I’m a fan of these luxury products,” and then make sure those types of luxury products are on board. Or, “I’m a fan of this type of food," and they can make sure that food is on the menu. It gives companies a way to personalize the experience that wasn't possible before.

Q: What risks should companies keep in mind when approaching AI? A: AI is not monolithic, and there are different maturity levels for different uses. You’ve seen issues in contact centers, for example, where AI agents were introduced and in some cases gave customers hallucinations with wrong information. And so having a “maturity test” to make sure they tech you're using is ready for prime time, particularly when it's customer-facing, is important. Those same disciplines are critical for protecting internal data, which you don't want inadvertently training a large language model.

That’s one category of risk. On the other side of all of this, another risk is not moving quickly enough and falling behind. Your AI strategy will either put you ahead or make it hard to ever catch up. If we take a lesson from the Internet era, a lot of those early movers ended up being winners for the next ten, 20 years. We expect to see something very similar for companies that embrace AI today, both early on and in a trustworthy way.