Meta Platforms Inc. has discussed introducing subscriptions starting at €10 per month for users in the European Union who want to opt out of targeted ads, and may roll them out in the coming months, the Wall Street Journal reported.
(Bloomberg) — Meta Platforms Inc. has discussed introducing subscriptions starting at €10 per month for users in the European Union who want to opt out of targeted ads, and may roll them out in the coming months, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Meta officials briefed privacy and digital-competition regulators on the plans in meetings last month, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the proposal who it didn’t identify.
The company has told regulators it plans to charge about €10 per month for desktop access to Facebook or Instagram accounts and €6 for each additional linked account, the Journal said. Mobile device accounts would cost about €13 a month, it said. The New York Times had initially reported that Meta was considering the plans to get around EU rulings restricting data-collection practices last month.
“Meta believes in the value of free services which are supported by personalized ads,” the company said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg. “However, we continue to explore options to ensure we comply with evolving regulatory requirements. We have nothing further to share at this time.”
Read More: Meta Fined €390 Million, Ordered to Change Way It Processes Ads
The company is reacting to a crackdown on the way social media platforms can use customer data to serve customized ads. Meta was hit with a €390 million ($409 million) fine in January by the EU’s main privacy watchdog over how it treated data for personalized ads on its Facebook and Instagram platforms. Current rules allow platforms to charge an “appropriate fee” if they opt out of data processing.
–With assistance from Jillian Deutsch.
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