Re: EU enforcement authorities already allow Pay or Okay
Yes, greedy bastards and brown envelopes come to mind.
It's not about advertising. It's about tracking and profiling, and by making this an argument about advertising they have neatly sidestepped the fact that there is a third option - to show adverts that are not personalised. You'll note that the Meta screenshot suggests that this will be an option "later" (when they think they've taken enough information, I guess).
I do not object to advertising. It's shit and it's annoying but I don't pay so it's the "payment" for using the service. What I object to is the amount of data collected, the complete lack of transparency regarding this data (what is actually collected, what conclusions are drawn, who is this then sold to) and the complete lack of ability to be able to access it. Have you ever asked Google to export your data from them? Did it include anything about "what we determined from your use of our services without telling you?".
We have already seen potentially faulty metrics covertly gathered and passed on to third parties having real world effects, like the roller coaster and car insurance. Sure, it's an extreme example, but I bet there are hundreds of thousands of scary examples, only we don't know and we can't find out.
This is the point that everybody in a position of power seems to be wilfully and irresponsibly ignoring. It's not about the advertising, it's about what goes on in the background.