If you are Facebook and Instagram users, you probably already know that for several months, Meta offers the possibility to subscribe to a paid plan to enjoy these social networks without personalized ads in the European Union. This plan was implemented to comply with the requirements of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in order to prohibit the display of ads based on each user’s personal data.
Well, now, as reported by Reuters, Meta would be considering giving a twist to its mentioned subscription plan in order to address concerns with the current method by privacy and antitrust regulators. Up until now, the payment plan on the web version costs 9.99 euros per month, while the Android and iOS version is priced at 12.99 euros per month; and now, according to the aforementioned media outlet, Mark Zuckerberg’s company “has offered to almost halve its monthly subscription fee for Facebook and Instagram” to “address privacy and antitrust regulators’ concerns”, as we mentioned before.
Meta offers to reduce the price of the ad-free subscription plan for Instagram and Facebook in the EU
In addition to this, it should be mentioned that an additional fee of 6 euros per month is also added in the web version and 8 euros per month in the iOS and Android version for each additional account added to the mentioned subscription plan. These costs would also be reduced. Specifically, as stated by Meta’s lawyer, Tim Lamb, in a hearing of the European Commission, the company has “offered to lower the price from 9.99 euros to 5.99 euros for a single account and 4 euros for any additional account”.
This move that they are willing to make from Meta comes after the growing criticism that the company’s ad-free subscription service is receiving from privacy activists and consumer groups. Therefore, this price reduction would serve to calm the situation a bit and balance the demands of EU privacy laws and the DMA.
“This is by far the lowest end of the range that any reasonable person should pay for services of this quality. And I think it’s a serious offer,” Lamb added. It has also been indicated that Zuckerberg’s company offered this price reduction to regulators earlier this year and are now discussing it with data protection authorities, such as the Irish supervisory authority, to assess its feasibility for acceptance by the European Commission.
Obviously, we can always choose the free option to use Facebook and Instagram, although with the appearance of advertising when using these social networks; since if you decide not to pay for their use, Meta will be able to carry out personalized advertising campaigns for each user. It is also worth mentioning that, beyond advertising, the experience will remain the same.
