The background is EU regulation, with which the union aims to limit the power of social media giants.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, offers a monthly paid version of the services in Europe, which does not show ads. You can continue to use the services for free if you accept that advertisements are displayed in them as before.
A paid version will be available in November in EU countries, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The background is EU regulation, with which the union aims to limit the power and opportunities of social media giants to collect and trade information about users. Social media companies are required to ask their users for their consent before offering them targeted advertising based on their social media usage.
Meta announces that the monthly fee is 9.99 euros for browser use and 12.99 euros for mobile use. The price for Android and iPhone users is higher because Google and Apple’s app stores take a commission.
Meta announces that one monthly fee will initially cover all user accounts, but the situation will change next year. From the beginning of March, Meta will start charging six euros per month from browser users and eight euros from mobile users for each user account.
So far no ads for minors
Meta promises that as long as the subscription is valid, the users’ data will not be used for advertising. The subscription model will be available to users over 18 years of age. According to the Wall Street Journal, Meta plans to stop showing ads to underage users in Europe for the time being.
Meta says in its press release that it will continue to investigate how it can offer teenagers a “useful and responsible advertising experience” in the changing regulatory environment. The user rules of Meta’s services state that users must be at least 13 years old.
– We believe in an advertising-funded internet that offers people access to products and services aimed at them, regardless of their financial conditions, Meta says in its announcement and assures that the company is committed to complying with the new EU rules.
The EU court ruled in the summer that Meta may not combine the data it collects from users with data collected from other sources in order to sell it on to advertisers.
In the rest of the world, Meta does not intend to make changes to the terms of its services or offer a version cleaned of advertisements.