Norway is doubling down in its long-running fight against Meta over users’ data. The country’s privacy watchdog, Datatilsynet, says it is already investigating the company’s new ad-free subscription model, less than a week after the service was launched across Europe.
Meta started rolling out its new model last week, giving Facebook and Instagram users who live in the European Union, Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein, and Switzerland the option to opt out of seeing ads in exchange for €9.99 ($10.50) a month. Meta has said that subscribers’ personal information will not be used for ads on Facebook and Instagram. But Line Coll, director of Norway’s data protection regulator, argues the new model is not a win for privacy. Subscribers might not see ads anymore, she adds. “But Meta will still track you, they will still collect the data. From a data protection perspective, that blows my mind.”
When asked whether she expects the subscription to form a basis for a new Norwegian case against Meta, Coll said: “Yes. We’re looking into it, and we have to know more about the solution, the technical sides of it, and we have to understand it better.”
“We will still collect, store, and use data for the purposes of providing users the personalized organic experiences they value from Facebook and Instagram, such as recommended posts [and] friends recommendations,” says Meta spokesperson Matt Pollard. “However, if users subscribe for no ads, their information will not be used for ads.” Pollard adds he was not aware of the Norwegian investigation. “[We] are surprised to find about such a matter via the press.”
Under Coll, the data protection regulator in Norway, which is not an EU member, has become a new thorn in Meta’s side. After three decades spent working as a privacy lawyer, Coll joined the watchdog in August 2022. She never expected to get the job. When she was approached six months earlier and asked to apply for the position, she thought: “Sure, why not? It’s never going to be me.”
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