- Meta responds to DMA nicely with new data collection policy for EU customers
- Custom and general advertising options are now available
- The European Commission will continue to monitor implementation
Meta is expected to offer European Facebook and Instagram users a reduced data-sharing option for less personalized ads from January 2026, providing a satisfactory resolution to a months-long DMA dispute with the European Commission.
Under the new European model, users can choose between sharing full data for highly personalized ads and sharing limited data for more general ads.
The update would replace the old “sign up or pay” model, which required users to opt out of data tracking and personalized ads or pay for ad-free access.
Meta reaches agreement with EU on DMA notifications
This news comes about six months after Meta was fined €200 million for this (in April 2025). The amount covered affected users between March 2024 (when the DMA commitments became legally binding) and November 2024 (when the updated advertising model was introduced to allow for less data sharing).
“Allowing free choice for businesses and consumers is at the heart of the rules of the Digital Markets Act. This includes ensuring that citizens have full control over when and how their data is used online and that businesses can communicate freely with their customers,” said Henna Virkkunen, Senior Vice President of Technology Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. he wrote at this moment.
Following the reviews, an updated model was adopted and the EU will continue to monitor compliance. “Following implementation, the Commission will seek feedback and evidence from Meta and other stakeholders on the impact and adoption of this new advertising model.” he wrote European Commission.
Without access to highly personal information, meta ads rely on content targeting, which means back-end engineers must work to collect different types of data in different ways.
For advertisers, this can mean lower returns as targeting becomes less effective for non-subscribers.
“EU users must have full and effective choice over their rights under the Water Framework Directive,” the Commission said.