The European Commission has charged Meta, the parent company of Facebook, with violating the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) through its new ad-supported social networking service.

According to the Commission, Meta's 'pay or consent' advertising model does not comply with the DMA as it forces users to either pay a subscription fee or consent to their data being used for targeted advertising.

This policy fails to provide users with a less personalized but equivalent version of Meta's social networks.

Meta, which rolled out the new model last November, stated that it follows the direction of the highest court in Europe and complies with the DMA.

The EC, however, disagrees and asserts that Meta's model infringes on users' ability to control their data.

This is part of the EU's broader crackdown on anti-competitive practices by large digital companies under the DMA, which came into force in March and targets Big Tech.

Companies that violate these rules may face significant penalties, potentially up to 10% of their global annual revenue or 20% for repeated offenses.

In Meta's case, this could amount to as much as one dollar13.4 billion.