The continued commercialisation of social media platforms over the past decade has become quite a heated point of debate and discussion in many online circles, especially with regards to user privacy and safety. That being said, social media giant Meta is moving forward with a major change that will allow users to access a paid, ad-free subscription option for Facebook and Instagram, which will roll out soon in the United Kingdom.
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According to Meta, this new development is a direct response of sorts to recent regulatory guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regarding user consent for personalised advertising. On paper, the company says that this move will provide users with an option of continuing to use Facebook and Instagram for free with personalised ads, or to stop seeing them altogether for a monthly fee.
For those who choose the subscription (dubbed as Subscription for no ads), the cost for the first Meta account will be £2.99 per month if purchased on the web. The price increases to £3.99 per month when subscribing via the iOS or Android apps, a difference attributed to the fees charged by Apple and Google. A single subscription decision will apply to all Facebook and Instagram accounts that a person has linked within their Meta Accounts Center.
Furthermore, an additional reduced fee will apply for each extra account in the Account Center which amounts to £2 per month on the web or £3 per month on mobile platforms. Meta says that when a user signs up, their personal data will not be used for the purpose of showing them ads. UK users over the age of 18 will be notified of this new option and given time to consider their decision before it becomes mandatory.
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But what if you don’t want to pay, though? In this case, Meta says that users who choose to continue using Facebook and Instagram for free will experience no changes to their service, and will still see personalised ads along with full access to existing controls for managing their ad experience, such as Ad Preferences. Meta says that it sees this shift as a way to give people a clear choice about whether their data is used for personalised advertising, while preserving the ad-supported free access for users, businesses, and platforms.
