BackMeta plans to start charging $14/month for ad-free Instagram and Facebook: Report
Meta plans to charge European users $14 per month for an ad-free subscription to Instagram and Facebook.
PremiumSocial media giant Meta could start charging users its European users around $14 per month for an ad-free subscription to Instagram and Facebook, reported the Wall Street Journal. The report notes that Meta officials have shared the plan privacy regulators in Ireland, digital competition regulators in Brussels along with EU privacy regulators.
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Meta had also been assigned the ‘gatekeepers' status under the EU's new Digital Markets Act last month. The act will not allow companies to combine personal data of users across their different services along with imposing other restrictions. EU has been working on building tougher regulation of big tech in order to protect European users online and encourage competition in US giants dominated industry.
The WSJ report notes that Meta is planning to charge European users around 10 euros or $10.46 for a monthly subscription to Facebook or Instagram on desktop with around $6 euros added for each additional account.
Moreover, the subscription price would jump to roughly 13 euros a month on mobile devices because Meta would factor in commissions charged by Apple's and Google's app stores on in-app payments,
Meta told regulators that it is planning to roll out the subscription no ads (SNA) plan for European users in the coming months, giving users the choice between continuing to access Facebook and Instagram with personalized ads or paying for their services without any ads. However, it isn't clear if regulators in Ireland or Brusells will find Meta's new SNA plan compliant with the EU regulations, the outlet noted.
A Meta spokesperson quoted WSJ as saying that the company believes in free services which are supported by personalized ads but is open to exploring options to comply with ‘evolving regulatory requirements’.
As per Meta estimates, the company had around 258 million monthly Facebook users and 257 million Instagram during the first half of 2023.
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