Residents of the European Union may soon have to pay up to $17 a month to use the ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram, several media outlets reported on Tuesday, the latest social media company to charge users for access that has long been free.
Meta is reportedly exploring features that would rate European Facebook and Instagram users between $10 and $17 a month for using ad-free versions of its platforms, as it seeks to adapt to new advertising legislation that jeopardizes its main source of revenue, the Wall Street Journal reported. . .
European advertisers account for between 21% and 25% of Meta’s global ad revenue on a monthly basis, Reuters said, and new European regulations banning personalized classified ads without user consent may simply deal a blow to the company’s bottom line.
Meta’s new plan would require users to agree to allow personalized classified ads (which makes the company compliant with regulations) or pay them, which could help cut losses.
Company officials told regulators it could only charge users €10 per month, or about $10. 50, for Facebook or Instagram with no desktop advertising, or €13 ($13. 61) for CellularArray, according to the WSJ, with additional fees. for more accounts.
Some regulators have questioned the value of the plan and questioned whether it costs too much to ensure that user insights are rarely used for advertising purposes, the WSJ reported, but Meta said the value is a “reasonable fee” and on par with advertising revenue. He would lose under the new European regulations: about $17. 88 according to a Facebook user.
258 million. That’s the number of people who use Facebook monthly in the EU, Meta estimates, with around 257 million per month Instagram users.
Facebook and Instagram have been severely affected by new privacy regulations in the European Union. The company was fined 390 million euros ($414 million) for violating user privacy earlier this year, and a court ruled in July that Meta reevaluate how it used users’ online data. activity to deliver targeted classified ads amid new privacy concerns. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has long said that its platforms remain flexible and subsidized through advertisers, according to the WSJ, however, a Meta spokesperson told Reuters that adjustments would possibly be necessary to comply with the new EU. rules. The plan for a subscription service aligns Meta’s platforms with others like Spotify and YouTube, which also qualify for ad-free experiences.
It’s not just Meta – and not just the EU – that’s contemplating charging for social media access. Elon Musk, who bought Twitter last year and renamed it X, said the company is “moving toward a small monthly payment for its use. “Musk has already made the decision to put some features of X, such as TweetDeck and the verification system, on a paywall, and said charging users “a few dollars” would help reduce the number of AI bots appearing on the website. It had been suffering financially long before Musk got here — he had reported a $344 million loss in his last quarterly earnings report before the acquisition — and the billionaire said last month that X’s ad revenue was down 60%.
Zuckerberg on Tuesday ranked seventh on Forbes’ list of real-time billionaires with a net worth of $108. 9 billion. Musk, the world’s richest man, has a net worth of $251. 4 billion.
Meta plans to charge $14 per month for ad-free Instagram or Facebook (Wall Street Journal)
Meta’s Instagram and Facebook to rate EU users for ad-free service – (Reuters)
Exclusive: Mark Zuckerberg on Meta’s two risky bets and the punch in the face (Forbes)
Elon Musk Says He Could Put X/Twitter on a Paywall (Forbes)