Meta launches ad-free subscription; it costs more than your phone bill
Nov 13, 2023
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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If you’re tired of the annoying ads popping up on your Facebook and Instagram, there’s good news. Well, sort of. For users in Europe, Meta is launching an ad-free subscription. But Meta being Meta, there’s a catch. You’ll have to pay for it, and the price could be significantly higher than your phone or cable bill!
This move from Meta comes to comply with new European Union privacy regulations. Users in Europe now see prompts to sign up for the paid ad-free version of Facebook and Instagram. You can either tolerate targeted ads or pay around a minimum of $15 per month to remove them.
Industry analyst Matt Navarra has shared the first look at the prompts EU users are seeing on Meta’s platforms:
How much does Meta’sad-free subscription cost?
Remember Facebook’s slogan, “It’s free and always will be”? The ad-free service is available for €9.99 per month when you buy it via the web. If you opt for Google’s or Apple’s app stores, the fee is €12.99 per month. This subscription covers all linked accounts across both platforms and is already expensive. But there’s more.
After March 1, 2024, subscribers will face additional charges for any additional linked profiles within their Meta Account Center. Direct purchases will cost €6 a month per account, and app store purchases will cost €8 per month. Note that you must be older than 18 to use the paid subscription.
So, let’s calculate my case as an example. I currently have three Instagram accounts (for embroidery, jewelry/crochet, and my writing in Serbian). I have one Facebook profile and one Facebook page. And let’s say I buy the subscription through the web, so it’s cheaper.
- Ad-free subscription for one profile: €9.99
- Additional fee for two linked Instagram profiles: €6 per profile = €12
- Additional fee for one linked Facebook profile: €6
- Additional fee for one linked Facebook page: €6 per month
It adds up to €33.99 per month, which is $36.34 at the moment of writing this. If I reactivated my personal Instagram profile, I’d pay €45.99 each month! For comparison, my phone bill is around €20 a month. My internet + cable subscription is around €35. This is just… Surreal.
According to Meta’s prompt, this new choice is here because “laws are changing in your region.” I think they set the price this high because they don’t really want you to pay. They’d rather you choose the free option with ads, so they can keep collecting your data. Of course, it’s all so they can “offer you the best experience”
[via The Verge]
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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5 responses to “Meta launches ad-free subscription; it costs more than your phone bill”
Of course it’s expensive: they don’t want anybody to actually sign up.
It’s just a gambit to pretend to the EU legislature that users have a choice.
£12.99 a month. They’re having a larf!
Good idea for those who really want that option… I don’t
Social media is past its prime.
Ugh… I wish my internet and phone were that cheap. I live in a country where we have monopolies on these services. My phone bill (with a 15gb data plan) is $95. Cable and internet are $140 a month. And it’s only a partial cable package. This is in Canada