Towards the end of free social networks? The Meta group, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is imagining a paid formula for its platforms. From November, it will offer European users paid subscriptions to use Instagram and Facebook without advertising – and thus comply with European legislation on personal data and targeted advertising.
Users in the EU, Switzerland and the rest of the European Economic Area (Iceland, Norway, Liechenstein) “will have the choice to continue to use the two social networks for free” with personalized advertisements, “or to subscribe to no longer see advertisements,” the company said in a statement.
Nearly 10 euros per month
For all of their Instagram or Facebook accounts, each subscriber will have to pay 9.99 euros per month if they pay via computer, or 12.99 euros if they use mobile applications on smartphones, said the American technology giant. . This offer will begin “in November”, underlines the press release without further details. From March 1, each additional account added to the subscription will increase the monthly bill by 6 to 8 euros.
Users who do not consent to the American group collecting their personal data for advertising targeting purposes would thus retain access to the platforms, for a fee. Subscribers will have the guarantee “that their data will not be used for advertisements”, underlines Meta.
European regulation
Internet giants Meta and Google have built their empires on revenue generated by finely targeted advertising using the personal data they collect from their billions of users. But the EU has been fighting for years against the tracking of Internet users without their consent, first with the European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of 2016, then with the Digital Markets Regulation (DMA), which came into force this summer. The digital platforms concerned have until March 6, 2024 to comply.
Last May, Meta was hit with a record €1.2 billion fine from the Irish regulator, acting on behalf of the EU, for breaching the GDPR with its Facebook network – the fourth fine imposed on Meta in the EU in six months. Then last July, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) inflicted a new setback, recalling that users of social networks must “be free to refuse individually (…) to give their consent to particular treatments of data “.
And at the beginning of September, the Norwegian courts rejected Meta’s request for the suspension of a ban on behavioral advertising on its Facebook and Instagram platforms, which earned it a daily fine in the Scandinavian country.