BRUSSELS, July 1 Reuters Meta Platforms was charged by EU antitrust regulators on Monday for failing to comply with landmark tech rules as they took aim at the U.S. company39;s newly introduced pay or consent advertising model, already the target of privacy regulators and activists39; ire.

The tech giant launched the noads subscription service for Facebook and Instagram in Europe last November, saying users who consent to be tracked get a free service which is funded by advertising revenues. Or they could pay for an adfree service.

The European Commission, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, said the binary choice breaches the bloc39;s Digital Markets Act DMA which seeks to rein in the power of Big Tech, as it sent its preliminary finding to Meta.

It said the binary choice forces users to consent to the combination of their personal data and fails to provide them a less personalised but equivalent version of Meta39;s social networks.

We want to empower citizens to be able to take control over their own data and choose a less personalised ads experience, EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

Meta said its model complied with a ruling from Europe39;s top court.

Subscription for no ads follows the direction of the highest court in Europe and complies with the DMA. We look forward to further constructive dialogue with the European Commission to bring this investigation to a close, a Meta spokesperson said.

Meta can tweak its advertising…