Meta proposes charging $14/month to use Facebook without ads

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) commented that this is a tactic Meta wants to use to circumvent European Union (EU) regulations. Previously, authorities threatened to limit the company's ability to display personalized ads if it did not ask for users' permission, affecting its main source of revenue.

Meta officials detailed the plan in meetings in September 2023 with regulators in Ireland and Brussels, and the plan was also shared with other EU privacy authorities.

Meta hopes to roll out what it calls SNA (subscription no ads) in the coming months to European users. It will give users the choice of continuing to use Facebook and Instagram without personalized ads or paying to use the service without any ads, according to the WSJ.

Meta wants to charge Facebook, Instagram users under pressure from EU regulators. (Photo: Bloomberg News)

Meta plans to charge around €10 per month on desktop for a Facebook or Instagram account and close to €6 per linked sub-account. On mobile, the fee increases to €13 per month because Meta has to pay in-app payment commissions to Apple and Google marketplaces.

Charging a fee marks a major turning point for Meta. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has long emphasized that the company’s service is free and ad-supported, making it available to all income levels. “You don’t need thousands of dollars to connect with people who use our service,” he said at a 2018 conference.

Still, Meta’s chief has been “ambivalent” about the idea of a paid service in response to growing privacy scrutiny. In early 2023, the company introduced a paid account verification feature alongside Snapchat and X (Twitter).

Users in other regions may not have this option yet, as Meta's proposal is primarily a way to bypass EU authorities' requirements before collecting data for personalized advertising.

One issue for regulators, the WSJ's sources said, is whether Meta's proposed price is too high for most people, even if they don't want their data used for targeted advertising.

Two factors led to Meta's proposal: privacy regulators, led by Ireland, require Meta to ask for user consent before displaying behavioral ads; Instagram, Facebook, and Meta's ad networks must comply with the Digital Markets Act, which requires users to ask for consent before mixing user data with their own services or combining it with data from other businesses.

Meta hopes the charging scheme will comply with both of those rules. Under EU law, a person who refuses to allow certain data to be used must still have access to the service.

In the second quarter, Meta said Facebook 's revenue per user in Europe was $17.88, but the actual figure for EU users could be higher because the European region includes non-EU countries such as Russia and Turkey.

Meta estimates that there will be 258 million Facebook and 257 million monthly Instagram users in the EU in the first half of 2023. Globally, 3.88 billion people are using Meta apps as of June 30, 2023.

In July 2023, the EU's top court ruled that Meta needed permission to target certain types of advertising based on users' online activity, leading Irish authorities to order Meta to change its practices.

Meanwhile, Norway’s privacy regulator wants Meta to come up with a quicker solution and has ordered the company to suspend targeted advertising in the country. Last week, Norway proposed expanding the ban to the entire bloc. But such a ban would likely face a court appeal.

Meta is trying to promote its plans by citing examples of how other companies are doing it. Spotify, for example, offers a free, ad-supported or ad-free subscription option. Its proposed mobile pricing is similar to YouTube Premium in Europe.

Zuckerberg’s company also cited a July 2023 EU court ruling that said social media companies can charge “reasonable fees” to users who opt out of having their data used for certain advertising purposes, opening the door to the kind of paid service Meta wants.

(According to WSJ)

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