[_trackno5]

I am not. The EU’s move is to force Meta to stop personalised ads and Meta is pushing for an ad-free option. That’s an attempt to appease the regulators and keep their business model.

They’ll make the argument that the customer has a reasonable choice: see targeted ads or pay for the service.

I’m betting They’ll follow up saying the business model in the EU will not be viable without personalised ads (which it really probably won’t) and that they’ll consider leaving the EU altogether. Then the EU can have fun figuring out what will be the economic impact for its economy after they get cut off the largest social network

Meta has ditched Canadian news already. If the finances don’t make sense in the EU, I won’t be surprised they just ditch it

[dcminter]

You did, and now you're incorrectly claiming that the EU is forcing Meta to stop personalised ads. They're not. They're only forcing Meta to obtain user consent.

The means by which Meta is doing that are scummy and hopefully will still prove to be illegal, but none of that is the EU's doing.

I'd be surprised if there was much, if any, fallout from the disappearence of Meta from the EU space. Not that I hold out any hope of it.

[nerdbert]

> I'd be surprised if there was much, if any, fallout from the disappearence of Meta from the EU space.

One sure exception would be Whatsapp. It's really baked into society in many countries, including here in the Netherlands where it's the normal mode for most person-to-person communication, including customer-business contacts.

[oytis]

> The means by which Meta is doing that are scummy and hopefully will still prove to be illegal, but none of that is the EU's doing.

This is what many established media in Germany are doing. Either pay to read without data collection, or read for free and be tracked. No lawsuits so far - which doesn't necessarily mean they won't follow of course.

[nerdbert]

How much can Meta ditch before its all-important network effect starts to implode?

Threads hasn't really gotten off the ground, and I'd say a good part of the reason why is that it excludes the EU, which is full of very online-engaged people.