But before you think that Meta’s Mark Zuckerburg is faulty, the company carrying out the change because of what it calls “evolving regulatory requirements in the region.”

The “evolving requirements” might have something to do with the order in January by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner, Meta's lead EU regulator, to reassess the legal basis of how it targets ads.

Facebook and Instagram users had effectively agreed to allow their data to be used in targeted advertising when they signed up to the services' terms and conditions until the regulator ruled it could not process personal information in that way.

"Today, we are announcing our intention to change the legal basis that we use to process certain data for behavioural advertising for people in the EU, EEA (European Economic Area) and Switzerland from 'Legitimate Interests' to 'Consent'," Meta said in a blog post.