Facebook subscription fee?: Top five questions about Zuckerberg’s new strategy

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has submitted a related proposal to EU officials for consideration. Users of the Instagram and Facebook apps will now be given a choice: either use the service for free and continue to publish their data for personalized advertising, or pay a monthly fee and be allowed to use the services ad-free.

“Handelszeitung” explains the most important questions and answers:

How much does the subscription cost?

Zuckerberg’s proposal to EU officials envisages charging 10 euros for the service provided via computer. However, if you use the service primarily via your smartphone, a fee of 13 Euros must be paid. If you want to use both Facebook and Instagram social networks without advertising, you will have to pay an additional 6 euros; this will be a monthly fee of 19 euros for both meta-services on your smartphone. For comparison: for this money users get the standard Netflix subscription, which allows you to watch movies and series in Full HD on two devices at the same time.

Why does Zuckerberg want to introduce a subscription model now?

The change in strategy does not come without reason. Zuckerberg needs to respond to the changing data protection situation in Europe. Finally, the Data Protection Act will be revised in September 2023. More and more court decisions and regulators stipulate that personal data protection will be applied more consistently. This questions Facebook and Co.’s previous business model: Use of services is free for customers; customers pay with their own data; This is of great value to the advertising industry for targeted campaigns and provides high advertising revenues. Facebook’s coffers are being washed away.

According to Statista, Meta’s ad revenue was $31.5 billion in the second quarter of this year alone. The Silicon Valley group has a whopping 14 billion, most of it in the US and Canada. About 7 billion of them are in Europe, including Switzerland.

When will the subscription model come into effect?

First of all, it is a proposal submitted to the authorities for review. These are also officials of the European Union; No recommendations received by Swiss authorities have yet been reported. However, since Switzerland generally gravitates towards the EU, such as its data protection law, it is obvious that if subscription models were introduced in the EU, they would also be adopted in Switzerland.

What other subscription models are there for social networks?

This won’t be Meta’s first attempt to generate additional revenue through a monthly fee. The first tests of the system, called “Meta Verified Subscription”, were carried out in Australia and New Zealand in February this year. Customers can purchase the package, which verifies them with a blue tick on Facebook and Instagram, for $11.90 per month. The testing apparently went well, with the offering rolled out to Canada, Brazil, India and the US mid-year.

Elon Musk also made a name for himself with the monthly fees he received in exchange for a blue tick. Users must pay $8 a month for the blue tick that marks “real” people on Twitter. Twitter Blue is only available for individuals, companies can be verified with a gold checkmark, and authorities and governments will soon get a gray checkmark as well.

Internet giants apply varying levels of stringency when it comes to verifying individuals: While Meta requires documents such as an ID or passport, the requirements on Twitter are much more lax: the account must have existed for 30 days, all profile information such as username, profile photo and bio must be complete, and The user must have a Twitter Blue subscription ($8).

In fact, so far there has been only one subscription model comparable to Zuckerberg’s latest plans: YouTube Premium. The video platform, acquired by Google in 2006, offers ad-free use for 15.90 francs ($11.99 in the USA). Paying users can continue listening to videos when they close the application.

Are there any other extras to subscribing to Meta?

The fact that music continues to play even if the YouTube app is exited is a benefit for paying customers. In addition to the blue tick, Twitter Blue also offers other features for those willing to pay: You can edit tweets, use NFTs as profile pictures, and only receive half the ads, according to the Twitter Blue information page. It’s still unclear what kind of extra treats Zuckerberg wants to offer subscription customers.