It’s the moment of truth for Zuckerberg’s Trump bet

Mark Zuckerberg — having spent months cozying up to President Donald Trump — will now be looking to reap the benefits as European tech regulators bear down on Meta. The EU is expected to impose fines against the social media giant any day now, having preliminarily ruled in July 2024 that Facebook and Instagram’s “pay or consent” advertising model violates the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Under the DMA and Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU can financially penalize Meta up to ten percent of its annual revenue — $16 billion based on the company’s 2024 earnings — for failing to comply with regulatory requirements that Zuckerberg has accused of “institutionalizing censorship” across social media platforms. According to the Wall Street Journal, Meta is worried that the expected DMA ruling against Meta’s “pay or consent” model could impact its European revenue, which accounts for almost a quarter of its overall earnings, by forcing the company to allow European users to limit personali ... Read full article.