Discount: Meta could lower the monthly subscription fee by almost 50% to €5.99،
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram – Meta – has proposed cutting its subscription fees for ad-free versions of social media apps in Europe by almost 50% (from €9.99/month to €5.99 /month).
The decision comes amid criticism that Meta users would be forced to pay for privacy through its ad-free service, introduced to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and European privacy laws in the fall last.
In 2023, Meta unveiled a subscription service for Facebook and Instagram in the EU, EEA and Switzerland, providing users with an ad-free experience to align with EU regulations. This service prevents the use of user data for advertising purposes.
Reuters reports what Meta's lawyer, Tim Lamb, said at a European Commission hearing:
We have wanted to speed up this process for some time because we need to achieve a stable state… so we proposed to lower the price from 9.99 to 5.99 for a single account and to 4 euros for any additional accounts. This is by far the lowest end of the range that any reasonable person should pay for services of this quality. And I think it's a serious offer. Regulatory uncertainty currently exists and must dissipate quickly.
Austrian privacy campaigner Max Schrems said the problem is not about fees: “We know from all the research that even fees of just 1.99 euros or less result in travel consent from 3-10% who actually want ads to 99.9% who always want ads. click yes. The GDPR requires that consent be ‘freely’ given,” he said.
“In reality, it's not a question of the amount of money, but rather a question of 'pay or accept' as a whole. The primary purpose of “pay or accept” is to get users to click “ok”, even if it is not their free and genuine choice. We do not believe that simply changing the amount makes this approach legal.
Companies risk fines of up to 10% of their global annual turnover for violating the DMA.
