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.

“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 an equal footing with tech giants on data access,” Commissioner Thierry Breton said.

Meta said it disagreed with the preliminary findings and looked forward to “constructive dialogue” with the Commission about them before the investigation concludes next spring.