Meta charges ten euros per month for Facebook or Instagram without advertising

The Facebook group Meta makes billions from advertisements. In the future, Facebook and Instagram users will be able to opt out of the ads with a subscription. The group mainly responds to the demands of the regulators.

The internet group Meta is introducing a paid subscription for ad-free use of Facebook and Instagram in Europe. If you want to use the two social networks without advertising, you have to pay ten euros per month in the European Union, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Meta announced this in a blog post on Monday.

For another linked account – for example if someone wants to use both Facebook and Instagram without advertising – six euros extra will be charged after a transition period. Until March 1, 2024, the first subscription covers all linked accounts in a user’s Account Center.

The prices for subscriptions for smartphones are higher. The subscription there costs 13 instead of 10 euros. In this way, Meta passes on its commission payments to the app store operators, Apple and Google, to the end customers. Apple and Google earn three euros per month for every Facebook or Instagram subscription taken out in an app store.

Meta responds to regulations in Europe

Meta responds 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 option to purchase an ad-free subscription takes into account the requirements of European regulatory authorities, the blog post continues. At the same time, the option gives users a choice and Meta can continue to serve everyone in the EU, the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

Early this year, Ireland’s data protection authority fined Meta €390 million for breaches of data protection regulations. Meta was prohibited from using the so-called contractual legal basis to display personalized advertisements based on tracked user activities. The group then announced that it would ask users in the EU for their consent before allowing providers to place targeted advertisements. Anyone who accepts personalized advertising can now continue to use the networks for free. For everyone else, the subscription model is intended as an alternative.

(sda/awp/dpa)