Meta and moderators agree in Kenya to mediation

Meta offers lower cost for EU ad-free subscription under privacy review

by with No Comment Tech

Meta and moderators agree in Kenya to mediation

Image Credits: Chesnot / Getty Images

Meta has proposed to drop the price of an ad-free subscription in the European Union — currently the only way regional users of its social networks, Facebook and Instagram, can avoid its tracking and profiling.

Meta’s lawyer Tim Lamb revealed the detail at a workshop taking place in Brussels today to discuss its approach to complying with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), per Reuters — which reports Meta offered to almost halve the cost of the subscription in discussions with privacy regulators, from €9.99 per month per Facebook or Instagram account, to €5.99 (and with a slightly reduced monthly fee per each additional account).

“We have wanted to accelerate that process for some time because we need to get to a steady state … so we have offered to drop the price from 9.99 to 5.99 for a single account and 4 euros for any additional accounts,” Reuters quoted Lamb as saying. The reduced offer was made to regulators earlier this year, it also reported.

Meta spokesman Matthew Pollard confirmed the report is accurate. But it’s not clear whether Meta will actually drop the price or not. “[W]e await feedback from the Irish Data Protection Commission [DPC], our lead data protection regulator in the EU,” he added.

The DPC’s deputy commissioner, Graham Doyle, declined to answer questions about what exactly it’s assessing as regards Meta’s pricing. He also wouldn’t give an update on the authority’s wider assessment of the legality of Meta’s approach to obtaining consent — which it has been reviewing since last summer.

“We can’t comment on this matter at the moment, as the assessment is continuing,” Doyle said.

Using Meta’s social networks privately without charge is not currently an option in the EU despite the adtech giant (briefly) allowing regional users who exercised a right to object to its tracking to opt out of use of their data for ads last year — when it was claiming a “legitimate interest” (LI) for ads processing, after its earlier claim (contractual necessity) was found to breach data protection rules in January 2023.

The Court of Justice of the EU went on to dismantle Meta’s ability to claim an LI for the processing in a ruling last summer — after which Meta said it would shift to consent. However, the consent mechanism it devised is controversial because it offers users a Hobson’s choice of paying it money to access the mainstream social networks or continuing to get free access but with tracking.

Critics say Meta’s approach relies upon economic coercion to manipulate users to accept tracking, arguing it does not comply with the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — which requires consent to be freely given. So Meta’s level of pricing is explicitly contested. (In one of its complaints, privacy rights group noyb contends the pricing is “way out of proportion,” for example). There are other privacy complaints, too. Additionally, consumer protection complaints about Meta’s approach have also been raised.

The regulatory picture is further complicated by the EU’s DMA and its sister regulation, the Digital Services Act (DSA) — both of which apply to Meta.

Under the former, Meta is designated as a gatekeeper of “core platform services,” including Facebook and Instagram. The ex ante market power regulation puts limits on how gatekeepers can use people’s data for ads — requiring they obtain explicit consent. There also needs to be parity between how easy it is for people to consent to use of their data for ads or not consent. And the DSA, which designates Facebook and Instagram as very large online platforms (VLOPs), also applies these limits on the use of people’s data for ads. Additionally, both laws emphasize the need for compliance with the GDPR.

Gatekeepers’ compliance with the DMA and VLOPs’ compliance with the DSA is overseen by the European Commission, which recently sent Meta a request for information about its controversial “consent or pay” offer under the DSA.

“We are currently assessing Meta’s compliance with the DMA, including their consent or pay model,” a Commission spokesperson confirmed.

Meta’s compliance with the GDPR, meanwhile, is led by the Irish DPC, under the regulation’s one-stop shop. This structure does not mean the Irish authority gets final say on Meta’s compliance with EU privacy rules, though. Its draft decisions on Big Tech enforcements typically loop in other concerned authorities, via a decision review process for cross-border processing. In the case of Meta, this has frequently led to objections from other data protection authorities, which have landed stiffer enforcements than the DPC originally proposed. So who gets the final say on the GDPR compliance of Meta’s consent mechanism is complex too.

The founder of noyb, Max Schrems, has responded to the news of Meta proposing reduced pricing with a statement: “We know from all research that even a fee of just €1.99 or less leads to a shift in consent from 3-10% that genuinely want advertisement to 99.9% that still click yes,” he said. “The GDPR requires that consent must be ‘freely’ given. In reality it is not about the amount of money — it is about the ‘pay or okay’ approach as a whole. The entire purpose of ‘pay or okay’ is to get users to click on okay, even if this is not their free and genuine choice. We do not think the mere change of the amount makes this approach legal.”

This report was updated to include the Commission’s response to our request for comment. We also added noyb’s response to the news of Meta proposing a low subscription fee.

Photoncycle storage

Photoncycle targets low-cost energy storage with a clever hydrogen solution

by with No Comment Tech

Photoncycle storage

Image Credits: Photoncycle (opens in a new window)

For years, the solar energy sector has grappled with interseasonal energy storage. The ability to harness the surplus solar energy of summer months for use during the winter has remained an elusive goal, with existing solutions like batteries falling short due to prohibitive costs and limited lifespans. Hydrogen, meanwhile, despite its clean-burning properties, has been sidelined due to inefficiency and high costs.

Photoncycle — a startup emerging from the depths of an accelerator in Oslo Science Park in Oslo, Norway — has been working on a solution. With a vision as bright as the summer sun, the startup claims its solid hydrogen-based technology can store energy more efficiently in an ammonia synthesis reactor. The claim is this tech does the storage more cost-effectively than any battery or liquid hydrogen solution on the market.

 

A schematic of how Photoncycle envisions its full system when installed at a house. Image Credits: Photoncycle

“Lithium-ion batteries use costly metals. Our material is super cheap: To store 10,000 kilowatt-hours, it costs around $1,500, so it’s almost nothing. In addition, our storage solution is 20 times the density of a lithium-ion battery, and you don’t lose the current,” founder and CEO Bjørn Brandtzaeg explains in an interview with TechCrunch. “That means we have a system where you can contain energy over time, enabling seasonal storage. It’s a completely different thing than traditional batteries.” 

Photoncycle employs water and electricity to produce hydrogen. That in itself isn’t uncommon if you’ve been following fuel cell vehicle technology. However, the company’s approach incorporates an innovative twist: a reversible high-temperature fuel cell. This advanced fuel cell can produce hydrogen and generate electricity within the same unit. 

The core of Photoncycle’s innovation lies in its treatment of hydrogen. They process the hydrogen and then utilize its technology to convert and store it in a solid form. The company claims this storage method is not only safe, owing to the non-flammable and non-explosive nature of the solid state, but also highly efficient. It enables hydrogen storage at densities approximately 50% greater than liquid hydrogen, presenting a significant advancement in hydrogen storage solutions. These innovations form the cornerstone of Photoncycle’s system, facilitating safe and dense hydrogen storage, which the company says is a huge step forward in energy technology.

Current clean energy solutions such as rooftop solar power are limited by inconsistent supply due to the unpredictable nature of weather conditions. A robust, reusable energy storage solution could bridge these timings, ensuring a stable energy supply when these renewable sources encounter unavoidable intermittent periods. 

Great in theory, but not without its own challenges.

“The Netherlands is the country in Europe with the highest density of rooftop solar. We are seeing a massive ramp now because of high energy prices; everyone wants solar on the roof,” Brandtzaeg says. He adds, however, that this method can backfire for homeowners: “In July last year, in the Netherlands, in the middle of the day, you had to pay €500 a megawatt hour to export your electricity.”

Putting the energy storage along with the house generating the power effectively lets houses go off-grid. Photoncycle says it has tested and worked the main components of its solution — the next step is to integrate it into a system. If successful, the company says it can seriously challenge Powerwall, Tesla’s lithium-ion battery solution.

David Gerez, CTO at Photoncycle, and Ole Laugerud, who is a Photoncycle chemist, in Photoncycle’s purpose-built lab, which has been operational for close to two years. Image Credits: Photoncycle

“This is a relatively complex system — that’s why we have so many PhDs in different disciplines working on this. The reason why Elon Musk said that hydrogen is stupid, is that when you convert electricity to hydrogen and back, you are losing quite a bit of energy,” Brandtzaeg says. He believes his company can turn this bug into a feature. “In a residential setting where 70% of energy needs are heating, there is an opportunity to use that excess heat to provide hot water. We will target markets where people are using natural gas for heating at the moment and then replace the gas boiler in the house using the existing water-based infrastructure.”

Brandtzaeg’s confidence regarding the concept’s operational framework is compelling. He gestured toward a small mock-up of their operations plant within their labs, scaled down to the size of a car battery. Brandtzaeg believes this scaling should be problem-free, citing it as the primary reason they felt confident moving forward with the project. 

When it comes to power delivery, it takes a little while for the hydrogen to generate electricity, so while it is spooling up, the company relies on an intermediary, more conventional, battery for load balancing. The firm certainly has investors’ attention: Photoncycle just raised $5.3 million (€5 million) to build its first few power storage devices in Denmark, which Photoncycle has chosen as its test market. 

“We could have raised 10 times as much as we did, given the interest. But after this raise, I’m still a majority owner,” Brandtzaeg says. “I wanted to keep control over the business as long as possible and not raise more capital than we need to bring this service to market.”