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Most Instagram and Facebook users have grown accustomed to scrolling through dozens of irrelevant and sometimes oddly specific ads to view their friends’ content, but that may not be the case much longer for some European Meta users.Meta recently announcedthat it would launch a paid, ad-free subscription service for all Meta users residing in the EU, EEA, and Switzerland.
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This change leaves a lot of users with questions. Here is everything we know about the new subscription service Meta will launch this month.
After receivingmajor backlashfrom the European Union in January 2023, resulting in a €377 million fine for the tech giant, Meta has since adapted their applications to suitEU regulations. These major adaptions have all led to the recent launch of their ad-free subscription service.
This most recent announcement comes to keep in line with the European Union’sDigital Marketers Act legislation. The legislation requires companies to give users the option to give consent before being tracked for advertising reasons, something Meta previously wasn’t doing.
As a way of complying with this rule while also sustaining its ad-supported business model, Meta is now releasing an ad-free subscription service for users who don’t want targeted ads showing up on their Instagram and Facebook feeds while also putting some more cash in the company’s pocket.
The price depends on where you purchase the subscription. If you purchase the ad-free plan from Meta for your desktop, then the plan will cost €9.99/month. If you purchase on yourAndroidor IOS device, the plan will cost €12.99/month. Presumably, this is because Apple and Google charge fees, and Meta is passing those fees along to the user instead of taking a hit on its profit.
If I buy the plan on desktop, will the subscription carry over to my phone?
The subscription will be available for users in November 2023. Meta didn’t announce a specific date.
Meta’s statement said that it believes “in an ad-supported internet, which gives people access to personalized products and services regardless of their economic status.” Staying true to its beliefs, Meta will still allow users to use its services for free with ads.
However, it’s important to note that Meta mentioned inits statement, “Beginning July 15, 2025, an additional fee of €6/month on the web and €8/month on iOS and Android will apply for each additional account listed in a user’sAccount Center.” So, for now, the subscription will cover accounts on all platforms, but the cost will rise in the future for users with more than one account
The below countries can access Meta’s new subscription:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden.
Launched in early 2023,Meta Verifiedallows Facebook and Instagram users to pay for a blue tick mark next to their name. Yes, the same tick mark most celebrities with major followings typically have. This subscription service was launched as a way for users to protect their accounts and promote their businesses. Meta Verified costs $14.99/month (€14/month). It gives users the blue tick mark and provides extra account support and protection from impersonators.
If I choose not to subscribe, will I receive more ads than I do now?
How will this affect other social media platforms?
Paid subscriptions seem to be the trend among many social media platforms in the past couple of years. Snapchat hopped onto the trend early in the Summer of 2022 when they releasedSnapchat+, which allows premium users to pay $4/month to see where they rank on their friends' best friends list, boost their stories, pin friends as their top best friends, and further customize their settings.
More notably, Twitter, famously bought by Elon Musk, who nowrebranded the platform to “X,” released three different tiers of subscriptions meant to improve a user’s experience. The tiers include Basic, Premium, and Premium Plus. X’s latest release, thePremium+tier, allows users to pay $16/month for an ad-free experience and the ability to edit or undo their posts.
Other major apps, such as TikTok, have yet to announce any ad-free subscription plans, although it wouldn’t be shocking if they followed suit.
For Meta’s part, it claims to want its websites to remain a free ad-based revenue domain, but we’ll see how long that lasts, especially if its first two subscription offerings succeed.
