EU says Meta ad-free subscription breaks antitrust rules

July 1 (UPI) -- The European Commission said on Monday that Facebook's parent Meta violated its Digital Markets Act with its "pay or consent" advertising model and could face massive fines.

The commission argued in a statement that Meta's model does not allow users to exercise their "right to freely consent" to the combination of their personal data. The commission said for Meta to be compliant, it must offer "equivalent services" for users who do not consent to give up their personal information to the company.

"Our investigation aims to ensure contestability in markets where gatekeepers like Meta have been accumulating personal data of millions of EU citizens over many years," said Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president in charge of competition policy for the commission in a statement.

"Our preliminary view is that Meta's advertising model fails to comply with the Digital Markets Act. We want to empower citizens to be able to take control over their own data and choose a less personalized ads experience."

Meta pushed back on the ruling, saying it crafted its current model last year under the direction of the European courts so it could specifically comply with the DMA.

"We look forward to further constructive dialogue with the European Commission to bring this investigation to a close," a Meta spokesperson told CNBC .

If the violations stand, Meta could be fined the portion of the money it has made in Europe, which could be as much as $13.4 billion, according to its latest earnings report.

"Today, we make another important step to ensure full compliance with the DMA by Meta," Thierry Breton, commissioner for internal markets, said in a statement. "The DMA is there to give back to the users the power to decide how their data is used and ensure innovative companies can compete on equal footing with tech giants on data access."

Meta announced last October that European Facebook and Instagram users could opt out of seeing ads with a monthly fee as a way to lessen their exposure to advertisers. At the time, the company promised that those who continue to use the service for free will not have their experience altered.