As of this January 2026, the long-standing attrition between the European Union and Meta has reached a tentative truce, marking a significant shift in the digital landscape. The conflict, which saw the EU Commission levy a hefty €200 million fine against Mark Zuckerberg’s empire back in April 2025, has culminated in the tech giant accepting European regulatory standards. This development is particularly striking given the broader geopolitical context; it arrives amidst a ‘cold war’ on digital regulations and artificial intelligence instigated by Donald Trump against Europe.
The End of “Consent or Pay”
At the heart of the dispute was the European Union’s objection to the radical nature of Facebook and Instagram’s “Consent or Pay” model. Introduced in November 2023, this binary system presented users with a stark ultimatum: consent to being profiled and inundated with highly personalised advertising, or pay a subscription fee to maintain a profile on the social networks. The European Commission found this approach non-compliant with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), arguing it failed to offer the specific choice required for a service utilising less personal data. Furthermore, it did not allow users to freely consent to the combination of their personal data.
In response to the sanctions and the need for compliance, Meta has announced a softer approach that retains its advertising business model while granting users greater governance over their information. Users will now have the option to continue sharing all data for bespoke advertisements or, crucially, limit the amount of shared data to receive less personalised advertising without the necessity of a subscription.
A victory for the Digital Markets Act
The resolution, formalised in December, eliminates the risk of further draconian sanctions against Meta regarding privacy and competition laws. In an official note, the European Commission acknowledged Meta’s commitment to offering EU users an alternative choice to comply with the DMA. This marks the first instance of such a choice being offered on Meta’s social networks.
The Commission emphasised that once the new model is implemented this month, it will seek evidence from Meta and other stakeholders regarding the impact and adoption of this new advertising paradigm. The conclusion of this chapter serves as a reaffirmation of Europe’s right to define and enforce its own laws, sending an implicit message to the US administration following similar clashes with Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), which faced a €120 million fine for transparency violations.
Navigating the Platform: A Guide to Drafts
Whilst the corporate giants wrestle with data sovereignty and algorithmic transparency, the average user’s frustrations are often far more pedestrian. It happens to almost everyone: you begin composing a post, only to be interrupted by more pressing matters. Ideally, one would simply pick up where they left off, especially after a bout of extensive thumb-typing. Fortunately, the Facebook ecosystem does retain unpublished posts—drafts—for a few days, though locating them can be somewhat counter-intuitive depending on the device used.
Managing Drafts on the Web
For those accessing Facebook via a desktop browser, the functionality is distinctly bifurcated between personal profiles and business pages. Regarding personal timelines, the website does not support saving drafts in the traditional sense. If you close a posting window before publishing, the text remains only as long as you stay on that specific page. Attempting to navigate away triggers a prompt asking whether you wish to continue editing or discard the post entirely.
However, the architecture is far more robust for Facebook Pages. Managers can utilise the Meta Business Suite to save work properly. To access this, one must navigate to the Business Suite on the left-hand sidebar, select ‘Content’, and then ‘Posts & reels’. This section displays tabs for published content, scheduled posts, and incomplete posts saved as drafts. When creating a new post here, selecting ‘Finish later’ rather than ‘Publish’ sends the content directly to the Drafts tab within the Posts & Stories page, ready for completion at a later time.
The Android Anomaly
The experience on the mobile app, specifically for Android devices, offers a unique capability not found elsewhere: the ability to save multiple drafts for a personal timeline. Curiously, this feature comes with a caveat regarding accessibility. There is no dedicated ‘Drafts’ folder within the main navigation menu. Instead, the only route to access this list of saved posts is through the specific push notification received at the moment the draft is saved. It is a peculiar quirk of the user interface, yet invaluable for those who frequently manage posts on the go.
