DMA €200M (Meta) — 60s explainer (A10)

01 / 08 · Setup

CONSENT OR PAY

November 2023, Meta's new model

02 / 08 · Tension

CHOICE ? ULTIMATUM.

€12.99 or behavioral ads

03 / 08 · Reveal

DIGITAL MARKETS ACT

March 2024 · gatekeepers: Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon, MS, ByteDance

04 / 08 · Mechanism

false choice: pay or consent to tracking

User

3 buttons

no "no ads, no payment"

Meta

two options (yes + yes)

DMA requires an equivalent alternative

05 / 08 · Scale

250 MILLION EU USERS. FIRST DMA CASE.

Mar 2024 DMA live Mar 2024 complaint Apr 2025 fine

€12.99

per month for "no ads"

250M

EU users

10%

max fine of yearly revenue

06 / 08 · Filing

APRIL 2025

European Commission

directly

noyb · Panoptykon

complainants

BEUC

European Consumer Org

Apple in parallel €500M (App Store)

07 / 08 · Fine

€200M

first DMA fine in history

Meta is appealing. Commission: "consent or pay model fails to comply with the DMA". Apple gets €500M for the App Store the same day.

08 / 08

€200M

First DMA fine. First time stated outright: "the business model fails to comply with the law".
Card A10 in Big Tech Files.