The EU on Friday used new regulatory powers to query Meta about ad-free subscriptions to Facebook and Instagram as well as claims some voices are suppressed online in a phenomenon known as "shadow banning". The European Commission made a request for information under the mammoth content moderation law known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force last August for online giants like Meta. The EU's executive arm has launched a wave of probes under the DSA to quiz platforms on how they are addressing concerns from consumer protection to children's activity online. The latest request is a first step in a possible compliance procedure, but does not itself suggest there have been breaches of the law or a move towards punishment. The commission's list of questions is long. It wants more information about Meta's offer from November for Facebook and Instagram users in Europe to pay monthly subscriptions to use the platforms without adverts and without their data being tracked for targeted advertising.