Facebook is often under the microscope for its data and privacy practices, especially in Europe, where the European Union recently introduced a strict new law called the Digital Markets Act aimed at preventing big tech companies from establishing a monopoly. And this week, the European Commission announced that Facebook and several other tech giants are at risk of “heavy” fines as it launches a new probe into their practices.

In particular, the Commission said it will be investigating Facebook’s controversial “pay or consent” subscription model that asks users to pay in order to opt out of data tracking.

“The Commission is concerned that the binary choice imposed by Meta’s ‘pay or consent’ model may not provide a real alternative in case users do not consent, thereby not achieving the objective of preventing the accumulation of personal data by (companies),” the group said in a statement.

“Subscriptions as an alternative to advertising are a well-established business model across many industries, and we designed ‘Subscription for no ads’ to address several overlapping regulatory obligations,” Facebook fired back.

While Facebook has repeatedly said that its subscription model meets these regulatory requirements, it’s clear that the regulators themselves don’t feel that way. Hopefully this new investigation can put an end to this troubling privacy practice once and for all.

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