Datos como contraprestación¿el principio del fin del modelo «consiente o paga» en el acceso a los servicios digitales?

Abstract

The beginning of 2024 has been marked in the European digital market by the implementation of a business model that has come to be known as «consent or pay». Online services have proliferated, in which, when the user tries to access, a blocking message appears that prevents him from doing so and offers him the option of either accepting cookies and the processing of his personal data for advertising purposes or rejecting the installation of cookies by paying a fee to make use of the service. This is a business model in which the legal regime of personal data protection converges with very different regulatory standards such as those aimed at competition and consumer protection. Following the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 4 July 2023 in Case C-252/21 (Meta Platforms Inc.), which is an example of this crossover of disciplines in the digital economy, this paper analyses the viability of this business model as it has been implemented, mainly from the perspective of the regulatory requirements on data protection and following the recent Opinion 08/2024 of the European Data Protection Board.