Facebook and Instagram will be removing ads from their platforms and are introducing a paid subscription for users to avail of the feature. The service is available all over the European Union. It will be offered for roughly €9.99 per month on the web or €12.99 / month on iOS and Android to account for additional fees.
Meta issued in their statement, “To comply with evolving European regulations, we are introducing a new subscription option in the EU, EEA and Switzerland. In November, we will be offering people who use Facebook or Instagram and reside in these regions the choice to continue using these personalized services for free with ads, or subscribe to stop seeing ads. While people are subscribed, their information will not be used for ads.”
The subscription has been introduced to address the concerns of the European Union about Meta’s ad targeting and data collection practices. Meta believes the new policy will have a more clear and definitive privacy requirement met. The requirements are set by the European data laws that include the Digital Markets Act and GDPR.
Free access that comes with ads is set to remain available. “If you choose to continue to use our products for free, your experience will stay the same – and that experience will continue to be supported by the tools and settings that we have created to empower people to control their ads experience,” Meta explained.
Meta has written in their blog post while announcing the subscription, “We respect the spirit and purpose of these evolving European regulations, and are committed to complying with them.”
The ad-free subscription will be available only for those 18 and above in the EU, EEA, and Switzerland. It will initially apply across all linked Facebook and Instagram accounts. Eventually, however, Meta will be charging extra for linked accounts.
Starting March 1st, 2024, there will be an additional fee of €6 on the web or €8 on iOS and Android per linked account. The company told The Wall Street Journal that it will temporarily stop showing ads to teenagers in the region from November 6.
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