[nequo]

TL;DR:

When GDPR came into effect in 2018, Facebook and Instagram changed from asking for consent to use personal data to requiring that users enter into a contract with the company.

The Data Protection Commission is siding with the complainants who say that making the service conditional on agreeing to the contract is the same as forcing users to consent.

[lopis]

And this case is successful, we might see real repercussions this time around, instead of a wave of cookie banners. On the other hand, we might also see way more websites willing to straight-out block EU users from accessing them. And they won't be missed.

[miroljub]

As an EU citizen, I'll be happy if Meta would block me everywhere. Then I won't have to fiddle with various ad blocker and tracking blocker settings to make sure they are not getting anything from me.

[nequo]

Blocking a market of 447 million people simply because you need to ask them to click "agree" before you use their personal data (which most people do anyway) sounds like a bad business decision.

[lopis]

And yet several companies did exactly that in 2018 after GDPR started being enforced in Europe.

[nequo]

Do you have examples? Wikipedia[1] only mentions these:

  Instapaper (restored service in the EU in August 2018)
  Unroll.Me
  Klout (went defunct in 2018)
  The Chicago Tribune (local newspaper)
  The Los Angeles Times (local newspaper)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula...