In a world where Meta uses user cookies to run targeted advertising: Users see ads they're interested in, and experience no other downsides from that targeting.
In a world where Meta doesn't use cookies to run targeted advertising: Users see lowest common denominator boring ads. None of their life is different in any other way, there's no harm they avoided.
This whole issue is baseless. If the EU wants to purposefully degrade services that half of EU citizens use every day, that's their prerogative, but you're making the world slightly worse.
> In a world where Meta uses user cookies to run targeted advertising: Users see ads they're interested in, and experience no other downsides from that targeting.
So your argument is that you don't believe privacy has any value, and you only care about second-order effects. First: Since you believe that, can I install a camera in your shower? Don't worry, you won't experience any downsides. Second: Users would do in fact experience downsides, because targeted ads exist to get them to spend more money and distort their selection (i.e. if I'm shopping for cameras, I want the best/cheapest camera, not the one that paid the most to get shoved in my face).
What terrible bait, like I'm speaking directly to a man who's sold ads for three decades. "Boring" ads? No one wants to be served ads that manipulate them with "fun" (and we know that what you really mean is "serve the most attention-stealing customer-conversion media"). I won't believe that people consume digital ads by the Meta corporation for fun.
I don't want targeted ads. I'm not interested in anything they have to offer. I will search for things I think I need by myself when I think I need then.
In a world where Meta doesn't use cookies to run targeted advertising: Users see lowest common denominator boring ads. None of their life is different in any other way, there's no harm they avoided.
This whole issue is baseless. If the EU wants to purposefully degrade services that half of EU citizens use every day, that's their prerogative, but you're making the world slightly worse.