Meta, the company that manages social networks Facebook and Instagram, plans to offer users in the European Union (EU) the opportunity to use the platforms without advertisements for a monthly fee. The estimated basic fee of 10 EUR would allow you to enjoy the ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram on your computers. According to the media, this offer is designed to comply with strict EU personal data privacy and competition regulations
"Subscription models are becoming more popular every year - they have been working on YouTube, Spotify, Go3 and other popular platforms and apps for some time. It was only a matter of time when the big social networks would return to this direction of monetization", - says Andrius Archangelskis, "Bites Profas" in a press release.
For mobile devices - more expensive
The social networking company promises to offer an "ad-free subscription" plan to EU users in the coming months. In addition to the basic fee of 10 euros, it is promised to provide an opportunity to add an additional linked account for an additional 6 euros.
Meanwhile, to use Facebook and Instagram without ads on their mobile phones, users will have to pay as much as 13 euros each month.
"So far, quite a few pricing variations are offered, and it is early to guess how much it will actually cost to use the most popular social networks without intrusive advertisements." However, the main question remains about the amount of the fee. People are used to using networks for free and advertising does not prevent many from spending many hours there every day. So the big question remains whether users will suddenly decide to pay a dozen euros each for "cleaner" content," says the representative of the digital services company "Bitė Lietuva".
In Lithuania, more than 1,4 million people use Facebook at least once a week, and almost 650 thousand use Instagram. users, revealed a unique study "Use of Social Networks in Lithuania" in 2022.
The final decision has not yet been made
Meta detailed the subscription plan back in September at meetings with privacy regulators in Ireland and digital competition regulators in Brussels. The plan was also shared with other EU regulators. It is still unclear whether EU regulators will approve the proposal. They could also demand that Meta offer a free, ad-free version of its apps.
“While Meta still relies almost entirely on advertising revenue, earlier this year JAV, in the United Kingdom and some other markets, the company has launched the Meta Verified subscription service, the expert reports.
