Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports that Meta will introduce a "consent or pay" model for Facebook and Instagram, whether they will make arrangements to amend the Data (Use and Access) Bill to provide in legislation a person's right to choose to use online services without personalised advertising regardless of the availability of paid ad-free products.

The ICO has recently published guidance on this matter, which states that pay and consent models can be implemented in accordance with the law, so long as websites ensure that consent is still freely given. The guidance sets out a framework of factors that are important to consider when assessing whether a “consent or pay” model meets this standard of consent. This reflects and builds on existing UK GDPR standards and ICO guidance.

The Government will continue to engage with businesses, the ICO and users on these models, and on the guidance, but we do not think there is currently a case for taking action to ban the practice.