To comply with European requirements, Meta has introduced an ad-free paid subscription for Facebook and Instagram. But does this formula protect users’ privacy more? An RTS survey shows that, even without advertisements, the collection of personal data remains just as widespread.
In Switzerland, users spend an average of 2 hours 27 minutes per day on social networks. Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, uses this attendance to refine its knowledge of each of them.
RTS tested the difference between free and paid accounts over several weeks using two profiles of each type, with the help of students. Result: the data collection remains very extensive in both cases, as Nicholas Xiao-Lin Hutin, participant in the experiment, summarizes on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.: “As it progressed, I saw that there was targeted content based on what I liked and appreciated.”
Helped by experts, the students accessed the data recorded by Meta, including name, geolocation, contact numbers and activity history. Annella Prudente Pessina testifies: “We don’t understand anything, it’s a series of numbers, letters, kinds of links”, she describes. The whole thing is clearly designed for computer systems, not for users, specifies Tommaso Venturini, researcher at the CNRS: “These are data made so that a computer can read them and not so much so that a person can read them. “
Ubiquitous and extensive collection
The analysis reveals precise information, such as places visited, videos watched and even contact phone numbers, down to details of users’ vacations. Far from being limited to basic data, Meta seems to collect everything, says Tommaso Venturini: “We really have the impression that the strategy they follow is to collect as much as possible to do different types of processing that we don’t know about. .”
This collection is not limited to the platforms themselves; by surfing other sites equipped with Meta’s famous tracking “pixels”, the information continues to accumulate. François Charlet, technology law lawyer, specifies: “As long as Meta has a small pixel, a small file which is on the website in question, these are elements which allow Facebook to collect information on a service which , in fact, does not belong to him at all.” Thus, even outside of social networks, the digital footprint of each user remains closely monitored.
>> Details from Charlotte Onfroy-Barrier in the 7:30 p.m.
Data for advertising and AI
The question then remains why Meta continues to collect the same data for its paying subscribers. According to Yaniv Benhamou, lawyer and professor of digital law, this could well be used for the American giant’s artificial intelligence projects: “All this information makes it possible to create a digital double at Facebook. This same data can serve as training for intelligence “If we take the example of Meta AI, conversational tools will be based on the Internet user’s conversations to try to optimize and make conversations more fluid,” he explains.
Previously set at 12 Swiss francs per month, the subscription guaranteeing advertising-free browsing will drop by 40% from Wednesday, according to an announcement from the multinational in reaction to injunctions from the European Union. A cheaper subscription therefore, but which will in all likelihood still allow Meta to collect and use personal user information.
Reportage TV: Charlotte Onfroy-Barrier
Adaptation web: Tristan Hertig
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