Meta to launch pay-or-consent model for Facebook, Instagram in UK

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) will soon launch paid versions of Facebook and Instagram in the U.K. which will remove advertising from both social media platforms.

In the coming weeks, users will be given a choice to pay £2.99 (about $4) a month to access ad-free versions of either service on the web and £3.99 for the iOS or Android apps. Meta noted that it was charging more for access on apps because of subscription fees imposed by Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet's (GOOG) (GOOGL) Google on their respective app stores, Bloomberg News reported.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.

“Under Meta’s chosen approach, people will be able to choose between consenting to personalised ads or paying a monthly subscription for an ad-free service – known as a ‘consent or pay’ model," said a spokesperson for the Information Commissioner’s Office, or ICO.

ICO noted that following its engagement with Meta about how the company uses personal information for its advertising model,they welcome Meta's decision to ask users for consent to use their personal information to target them with ads. 

The users will still have the option to keep using the services for free with ads.

Meta said they will start notifying users over the age of 18 that they can subscribe to Facebook or Instagram without seeing ads, the report noted.

The U.S. tech giant introduced a more expensive version of its subscription-fee offering in the EU in 2023, but regulators were not pleased with the plan. In April, the European Commission fined Meta €200M for allegedly breaching the EU's Digital Markets Act, or DMA. In June, the Commission said that Meta may face daily fines if limited changes that the company proposed to its pay-or-consent model do not comply with an antitrust order issued in April.

“This approach and outcome sets the UK apart from the EU, where we have been engaged in similar discussions with regulators,” said Meta, according to the report. “EU regulators continue to overreach by requiring us to provide a less personalized ads experience that goes beyond what the law requires, creating a worse experience for users and businesses."

"During the course of our engagement with Meta, it significantly lowered the starting price point at which users would be offered a subscription. As a result, users in the UK will be able to subscribe at a price point close to half that of EU users," the ICO noted.