FACEBOOK and Instagram are violating EU rules by charging users to avoid adverts, the European Commission said today.

Meta has given European users the option of paying for ad-free versions of the social media platforms since November, following a European Court of Justice ruling that users have to consent to be shown ads.

But the Commission said today that preliminary findings of an investigation into this are that a pay-or-consent model still breaches the Digital Markets Act (DMA) because users do not “freely consent” to allowing their personal data to be used to target them with ads.