One of Facebook's primary goals is to keep its site free to use. However, recent disputes between Facebook and European lawmakers over privacy could force the popular social network to charge its European users for access.
The crux of the problem lies in Facebook's lack of consent to offer its users targeted ads.
What does this mean?
Facebook collects data that it stores with every click its users make. It uses all this volume of information to analyze it. The analysis reveals what interests each of us, so Facebook knows what ads to “serve” to each of its one billion users.
Many European privacy groups are uncomfortable with Facebook’s vast trove of data, and there is a growing push to change the laws governing Facebook’s data protection. However, if that happens, Facebook’s advertising revenue will drop dramatically, forcing it to ask its users to pay to access its previously free social service.
“If they are not able to use our data in a profitable way or useful for advertising purposes, then either the user should pay or stop using the service altogether,” said Eduardo Ustaran, head of the privacy law team at Fisher Warehouse, a European technology law firm.
Facebook has previously stated that using the site will always be free, although the site has never faced a threat so potentially serious to its advertising revenue. The formula that would allow Europeans to maintain free access to the largest social network has not yet been found and perhaps in the face of rigid European legislation the only way is to make Facebook more flexible. Maybe..
A billion users on a website is truly a treasure trove of information, and Facebook will not easily give up its right to manage their data.
