Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 11, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Meta is unlikely to alter its pay-or-consent model, risking EU fines for non-compliance with the Digital Markets Act. The EU may impose daily fines on the tech giant.
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Meta Platforms is very unlikely to offer more changes to its pay-or-consent model, meaning it is almost certain to be hit by fresh EU antitrust charges and hefty daily fines, people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday.
The European Commission last month warned Meta of possible daily fines after being told that the U.S. social media giant would only make limited changes to its model to comply with the European Union's Digital Markets Act.
The Facebook owner was hit with a 200-million-euro ($234 million) fine in April after the EU antitrust enforcer said its pay-or-consent model breached the DMA from when it was introduced in November 2023 to November 2024.
Meta had tweaked the model in November 2024 to use less personal data for targeted advertising, which prompted additional EU scrutiny and the subsequent Commission comments in June. The DMA seeks to curb the power of Big Tech via a list of dos and don'ts.
Meta will not propose additional changes unless circumstances change, the people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday.
That in turn will likely result in fresh EU antitrust charges in the coming weeks and daily fines following shortly, of as much as 5% of Meta's average daily worldwide turnover starting from June 27, one of the sources said, although a final decision has yet to be made.
Meta declined to comment and pointed to previous statements where it said it is confident that it complies with the DMA, that its range of choices to Europeans go beyond the DMA's requirements and that the Commission is discriminating against its business model.
The Commission declined to comment.
($1 = 0.8553 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Meta Platforms is unlikely to make further changes to its pay-or-consent model, which may lead to new EU antitrust charges and significant fines.
Meta was fined 200 million euros in April for breaching the Digital Markets Act (DMA) with its pay-or-consent model.
The European Commission is expected to impose fresh antitrust charges and daily fines of up to 5% of Meta's average daily worldwide turnover.
Meta has stated that it believes it complies with the DMA and that its options for European users exceed the requirements of the DMA.
In November 2024, Meta adjusted its pay-or-consent model to use less personal data for targeted advertising, which led to increased scrutiny from the EU.
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