Meta wants paid subscriptions for Facebook and Instagram and that won’t be cheap

According to a media report, Facebook or Instagram costs without advertising costs from ten euros per month in the EU. Parent company Meta mentioned this price in proposals to regulators, the ‘Wall Street Journal’ wrote on Tuesday evening.

For another linked account – for example if someone wants to use both Facebook and Instagram without advertising – an extra six euros must be charged. The combination subscription would therefore cost 16 euros.

On the smartphone, the individual subscription for Facebook only or Instagram only should cost 13 euros instead of 10 euros, it was said, citing informed people. In this way, Meta would make users pay the fee that Apple and Google, as app store operators, deduct from the purchase price. Apple and Google controversially charge a fee of up to 30 percent on app purchases and subscriptions via the app stores. This is a big reason why Meta has long been against paid subscriptions for Facebook and Instagram – the beneficiaries of which are Meta’s rivals Apple and Google.

Why Meta is now planning paid subscriptions

Meta would respond to the changing data protection situation in Europe with paid subscriptions. As a result of, among other things, court rulings and decisions by regulators, the requirement to use user consent to personalize advertisements is being more strictly enforced. Data from different services under the umbrella of a group may only be combined with the express consent of the users.

The authorities’ concerns must be addressed

Meta believes that an ad-free version could address regulators’ concerns, the New York Times wrote in early September. The Wall Street Journal now reports for the first time on Meta’s price expectations.

The group had previously rejected paid subscriptions because the services had to be available to everyone. According to the Wall Street Journal, it is still unclear whether authorities in Brussels and Meta’s European headquarters in Ireland will accept the proposal – or whether they will demand free access to the services even for users who do not agree to use their services. provide data for personalization of advertisements.

Last quarter, Facebook generated $17.88 in revenue per user in Europe alone, almost entirely from advertising. That would be less than six euros per month – although the average figure includes some countries outside the EU where advertising revenue per user is likely to be lower than in the Union.

(oli/sda/awp/dpa)