EU users will be able to unlink their Instagram and Facebook accounts, as well as other Meta services, before the EU's new Digital Markets Act (DMA) comes into effect in March. The change will apply to the EU, European Economic Area and Switzerland, and a notification informing users of the change will be published in the coming weeks.
The changes mean EU users will be able to use many of Meta's services without information being shared between them. For example, users will be able to use Facebook Messenger as a standalone service without a Facebook account, or unlink their Facebook and Instagram accounts if they previously linked them. (Meta’s help page notes that account links like this are used for features such as targeted advertising, personalized content recommendations, and shared posts.)
Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Gaming users can also use the services without pulling information from their main Facebook account, but Meta says functionality will be reduced in both cases. For example, if you don't use Facebook messages when using Marketplace, buyers and sellers will have to communicate via email. If the Facebook Messenger link is removed, Facebook Game users will only be able to play single-player games.
Meta's announcement follows a similar announcement from Google. Earlier this month, Google announced that it would allow users to stop sharing data between services such as search, YouTube, Google Maps and the Chrome browser. In both cases, the changes are the result of the DMA, which went into full effect on March 6. Meta and Google's holding company Alphabet were among six companies designated as DMA "gatekeepers" last September.
Today's announcement follows Meta saying in early December that it would no longer allow Instagram and Facebook users to send messages across the services anywhere in the world, although in this case the company did not cite DMA as the reason for the change. In November, the company also launched ad-free paid subscription options for Facebook and Instagram in the EU, citing unspecified changes in regulations.
In addition to regulating how gatekeepers share data between services, the DMA includes a broad set of rules designed to improve competition and level the playing field for businesses that rely on gatekeepers to provide services. Other major changes expected in the EU as a result of the DMA include messaging services like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger becoming interoperable with rivals, and Apple being forced to open up sideloading capabilities for iOS.