Will we soon have to pay to access Instagram and Facebook? It’s a possibility if information is to be believed. revealed Tuesday October 3 by the Wall Street Journal. According to the American media, European users could have to pay around 10 euros per month to access their account from a computer, and 13 euros from an application. Each account could then be billed an additional 6 euros per month.
A taboo which seems to have been broken by billionaire Elon Musk, who mentioned in mid-September the possibility of generalizing a “small monthly payment” for all users of the X network. A fairly astonishing novelty when we know that Meta has built its empire on the data business and advertising targeting. And all the more paradoxical since one of Facebook’s promises is to remain “always” free.
One of the explanations for this radical change can be found in increasingly restrictive European regulations for Gafam. Last July, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that Meta did not have the right to share personal information about its users between its different platforms, an activity at the heart of its economic model.
A 180-degree turnaround which also aims to revive the group’s growth. The Menlo Park firm experienced a catastrophic 2022 with a drop of around 59% in its net income in just one year.