Meta announces subscription for Facebook and Instagram without advertising

Meta announces a paid subscription that will prevent users in the European Union and Switzerland from seeing ads on Facebook and Instagram. According to the company, the platform is therefore in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation.

The subscription costs 10 or 13 euros per month, depending on where the customer purchases it. Meta says that customers have to pay 10 euros via a web browser, but to compensate for the commission that Apple and Google ask, the same subscription via iOS and Android costs 13 euros per month. This subscription applies to all accounts of a user, i.e. all linked Facebook, Instagram and Meta accounts that are in the joint Account Center can be seen. From March 1, 2024, customers will have to pay an additional EUR 6 via the web, and an additional EUR 8 via iOS and Android per additional account per month that a user has linked in the Account Center. The company does not specify whether these are accounts added from that date or whether additional payments must also be made for existing additional accounts. Customers must be eighteen years or older to take out a subscription.

Meta says the new subscription system is a response to concerns from European regulators and rules within the GDPR and the DMA. Privacy regulators regularly criticize social media for unlawfully collecting user data. The company says that in this way it offers users the option to opt out of seeing personalized ads. Nothing will change for users who do not purchase a subscription. They continue to see personalized advertisements. Existing settings remain available to these users, including the options under Ad Preferences.