Most people don’t mind forking out extra to remove adverts from Netflix, but what if you could purge ads from social media as well?
That’s the plan the owner of Facebook and Instagram is floating in a bid to appease Europe’s privacy watchdogs, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Meta could charge users in the EU around £11.24 a month to use Instagram or Facebook without ads on their phones, with the option to add additional accounts for £5.19 each. The price would drop to £9.10 per month on desktop as Meta would be able to skirt Apple and Google’s tax on mobile payments.
With the blessing of EU regulators, the social media giant wants to launch ad-free subscription options in the coming months.
The bloc’s watchdogs have come down hard on Meta’s personalised ads, so getting their approval won’t be easy.
In January, Meta was fined €390m (£335m) by the EU’s main privacy regulator, Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner, for the way in which it collects user data for targeted ads, and ordered it to change its processes to be in line with EU rules.
By the summer, Norway had temporarily banned Facebook and Instagram from running highly personalised ads without obtaining user consent. Since then, Meta has offered to ask users in Europe for permission to show them targeted ads in a bid to resolve the long-running legal feud.
Now, you may be wondering if Brits will get the same surveillance concessions as our European neighbours. Well, the UK’s data watchdog has previously indicated that it is closely monitoring Meta’s moves in Europe, and “considering an appropriate response”.
The statement suggests that the regulator isn’t exactly pleased that Meta is putting the rights of EU users ahead of Brits.
The tussle over personalised ads indicates that Meta is trying to seek new ways to make bank in case its main source of revenue takes a hit. The tech giant has gradually squeezed more ads into Instagram, starting in users’ feeds before gradually expanding them to stories, explore pages, and reels.
Offering the option to remove them altogether could appeal to people who feel ads are ruining their experience on Meta’s apps, or be a big draw for privacy-minded users.
Meta currently uses your data to serve you ads that can seem so well-suited to you that some have accused the company of listening to your conversations. The truth is that Meta simply tracks much of what you do on and off of its site to show you tailor-made adverts.
You can review and change the settings that dictate which ads you see on Instagram and Facebook via your ad preferences. You can also choose to hide specific ads, or all ads from a specific advertiser, and opt-out of certain topics.
Meta wouldn’t be the first social media company to include ad-related perks in a subscription. Under Elon Musk’s leadership, Twitter (now known as X) promised to show fewer ads to those who pay for its service. Meta’s arch rival TikTok is also testing an ad-free subscription.
Earlier this year, Meta launched a new app called Threads without adverts. Sticking to his company’s playbook, Mark Zuckerberg said the plan is to grow the platform’s user base before introducing ads at a later stage.
