Meta could offer EU users a $14/month license to kill ads on Facebook, Instagram

Sick and tired of ads on Facebook and Instagram? Want to “kill” those pesky paid posts? Well, if you’re in the EU, you could do just that – but first, a small fee. Before you reach for your ad-slashing tool, reach for your wallet and pay Meta $14. Enjoy your 30 ad-free social network days and then pay again because we’re not talking about a single-time subscription – we’re talking about $14 per month.

Actually, we’re not talking about anything and we’re not giving Mark Zuckerberg any ideas – but someone apparently is. The WSJ has the story.

What Meta is allegedly trying to do, is to steer around EU rules that threaten to restrict Meta’s ability to bombard users with personalized ads without first seeking their consent. Insiders claim that Zuck’s company shared this ad-free subscription plan with privacy regulators in Ireland and digital competition regulators in Brussels in September.

It is called SNA – subscription no ads – and it would give EU users a choice:

• Continue to access Instagram and Facebook free of charge, but agree to personalized ads;
• Pay to access the platforms without any ads.

Those who choose to go with the SNA, those familiar with Meta’s proposal say, could be charged a tad over $10/month on desktop on a Facebook or Instagram account (and roughly $6 for each additional linked account). As far as mobile devices go, the prices could be 40% higher. The price could jump to $14/month – that’s because Meta would factor in commissions charged by Apple’s and Google’s app stores on in-app payments.

We didn’t get to see the “Musk vs. Zuck” cage fight, but if both billionaires introduce some more subscriptions on Meta and X – and make the free versions of the platforms unbearable – there’ll be a fight, alright. The only difference is Musk and Zuck won’t be fighting each other, but everybody else at once.