Context for those living outside the EU
Two main laws apply here. Once is GDPR, which states companies cannot collect uneccessary information (data minimisation) and cannot collect personal information unless consent is given. Meta is using the ‘legitimate interest’ loophole here.
The other one is DMA, which places extra limits on big Tech companies. Those also include limits on advertising, especially if the platform advertising platform is big enough
So, I opened Instagram and got welcomed by this
Now, the previous situation was already bad enough. You could agree to all ad tracking, pay to opt-out of all ad tracking (and ads) or opt-out of some ad tracking, the so called ‘less personalised ads’.
Now, Meta has removed the last option. It says that ‘you’ll later have the option to see less-personalised ads’. I mean what kind of consent is that ?