So-called pay or consent systems are on the rise in Europe. First introduced by journalistic websites that were suffering from the loss of advertising revenue to big tech platforms, Meta adopted the approach for Instagram and Facebook in November 2023.

The move came in response to a Court of Justice (CJEU) ruling in July 2023, which declared Meta's handling of user data illegal. Now, instead of asking users for their consent, the company is forcing them to either pay a fee of up to € 251.88 a year or agree to be tracked for targeted advertising.

In reality, most people have no choice but to accept the use of their data when faced with such a fee, even though the vast majority have no interest in being tracked.

As this video is being recorded, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) is working on a binding opinion on the issue. which will determine whether Europeans continue to have a realistic option to protect their privacy online.

If 'Pay or Okay' is legitimised for Meta, companies across all industries could follow suit - which would mark the end of genuine consent to the use of European's data.

In this video, Max Schrems of noyb explains what is at stake.