On Monday, Meta announced that it will offer paid subscriptions to Europeans in November to use Instagram and Facebook without advertising. The American giant thus intends to comply with the GDPR, which requires it to ask for their consent before presenting them with targeted advertising. Users from the EU, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein “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”.
Each subscriber will have to pay 9.99 euros per month if they pay via a computer, or 12.99 euros if they use mobile applications. And from March 1, each additional account will increase the monthly bill by 6 to 8 euros. What will users of these networks do? We asked them the question.
“Stop the bidding war”
The least we can say is that the news is not very appealing. Or not at all: all of the people who responded to our call for testimonials will remain in the free version. “I won’t pay a cent to go to Facebook,” Michel, who created a support group for people with disabilities on the platform, tells us. I do this for free. (…) It’s totally scandalous and inappropriate.” Philippe is categorical – “I will never pay for a social network! » – when Françoise reveals her weariness – “out of the question of taking out a subscription AGAIN so as not to have advertising…. “. And if Jean-Jacques says “stop the one-upmanship”, Mylène points out that “life is expensive enough as it is”.
More refractory, some even think about saying stop. “It’s the free version or the deletion of the account,” says Laurence angrily. “I am ready to leave the networks if one day payment becomes obligatory,” continues Gilles. And Mokpsy goes further: “I’m simply going to close my accounts since, in concrete terms, there’s no point! “.
“We no longer have anything for free today.”
Others will not go for the paid version but with less resentment. “The ads don’t bother me,” Vanessa tells us, “so I’ll stay with the free version. I use Facebook for entertainment, not professional purposes,” she explains. Apolline continues: “I don’t use Instagram, it’s only Facebook that I find useful, so advertising, why not, as long as it doesn’t become polluting.”
“I don’t know,” Ryan concluded. Paying not to see advertising is not normal, because they have been completely imposed on us.” But, he concedes, “I understand that we no longer get anything for free today.”