A new report from The Wall Street Journal has revealed that Meta is currently planning on rolling out a new subscription plan that will remove ads from both Facebook and Instagram.
The article states that Meta is planning on rolling out the new plan to EU users within the coming months, where it will offer an ad-free experience on Facebook or Instagram for $14 per month on mobile, or both social media platforms for $17 a month on desktop. The new subscription plan comes after a court ruling that enforces Meta to gain consent from users to access personal data that will then be used for targeted advertising.
Users who are unwilling to pay the monthly fee will automatically give consent to targeted advertising. Meta has until November to comply with the recently updated regulations, with regulators even recommending other social media companies to look into subscription models for userbases. It's likely that not many users will choose to opt into Meta's new subscription plan, given its price. The most basic plan is only a little bit cheaper than Netflix's standard plan.
Power users of both social media platforms are the likely target audience with this plan, and a power user typically utilizes both desktop and mobile. It's unlikely that the average Instagram or Facebook user will pick up this subscription, which means Meta will be able to force its users into opting into targeted advertising, its main revenue source. For reference, Snapchat's premium service, Snapchat Plus costs $3.99 per month, and X is $8/month or $84/year, in-app on iOS for $11/month.
