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Facebook and Instagram users face a choice: subscribe, or deal with personalized ads.
Facebook and Instagram users face a choice: subscribe, or deal with personalized ads.
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Meta is bringing its “pay or consent” ad model to the UK after months of wrangling with regulators over the controversial policy. The update will force Instagram and Facebook users to pick between being served up personalized ads or shelling out for monthly subscriptions to ad-free versions.
Subscriptions start at £2.99 a month, around $4, for users logging in over the web, Meta said. Android and iOS users face steeper charges of £3.99 a month, around $5.33. Meta blames this on “the fees that Apple and Google charge.”
It’s an all or nothing approach, with users forced to either subscribe on all accounts or none. Each additional account garners another fee of either £2 or £3 a month.
Meta was forced to walk back a similar model in Europe after regulators there slammed the “binary choice” it offered users. Meta warned users they faced a “materially worse” experience as a result. The fees were significantly more expensive there than in the UK, starting at €9.99 per month when purchased on the web or €12.99 per month if purchased through Google’s or Apple’s app stores, around $11.67 and $15.17, respectively.
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