Instagram

Meta wants to cut price of monthly subscriptions Instagram and Facebook in half

Poor subscription uptake forces rethink
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Image: Shutterstock via Future

19 March 2024

Meta wants to charge less for ad-free subscriptions on Instagram and Facebook after all, following strong criticism. The subscriptions will therefore go from €9.99 for use on a desktop browser to €5.99. At present Android and iOS users have a separate price tier of €12.99.

Privacy activists and consumer groups felt it was unjust that Meta was charging so much for ad-free subscriptions. The company itself came up with these subscriptions due to European regulations, but they seemed to become unattractive because of the high rates.

“Choosing between a free or paid version of Instagram or Facebook is misleading, unfair and aggressive,” the unions said in their joint statement last year.

 

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Meta forces users of Facebook and Instagram to choose between a paid and a free variant. At present users who choose the paid variant to not receive personalised ads. Users who opt for the free version, on the other hand, do. In addition, they automatically agree to their data being processed.

Strictly speaking, Meta has to ask its users whether or not they want to give up profile information for advertising purposes. The problem with that is, practically no one wants to.

The subscription has met resistance from civil rights and consumer groups, which is why Meta is considering lowering the price, Reuters reports.

Civil rights organisation noyb disapproves of the offer. “Even if you charge €1.99, 99.9% of users don’t want to pay and trade away their personal data,” it said in a statement.

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