Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is planning to let European users of Facebook and Instagram opt out of certain highly personalized ads as it attempts to limit the impact of a European Union privacy order, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The report, which cited people familiar with the planning, said from Wednesday Meta will allow EU users to choose a version of its services that would only target them with ads based on broad categories, such as their age range and general location, without using, as it does now, data such as what videos they watch or content they click on inside Meta’s apps.
Users who wish to opt-out will have to submit an online form objecting to Meta’s use of their in-app activity for ads, and the company will then evaluate any user’s objection before implementing the change, the people told the Journal.
This requirement could limit the effect of the change on Meta’s advertising business, but fall short of satisfying regulators and privacy activists.
The opt-out move comes as Meta faces a compliance deadline for a pair of landmark rulings from Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, which leads the enforcement of the EU’s primary privacy law for Meta, the publication noted.
Contact the author at emily.jarvie@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow her on Twitter @emilyjjarvie