Facebook has unveiled the prices it’s going to charge European users who want to have an ad-free experience on Facebook and Instagram.
People in these countries will be able to subscribe for a fee to use our products without ads. Depending on where you purchase it will cost €9.99/month on the web or €12.99/month on iOS and Android. Regardless of where you purchase, the subscription will apply to all linked Facebook and Instagram accounts in a user’s Accounts Center. As is the case for many online subscriptions, the iOS and Android pricing take into account the fees that Apple and Google charge through respective purchasing policies. Until March 1, 2024, the initial subscription covers all linked accounts in a user’s Accounts Center. However, beginning March 1, 2024, an additional fee of €6/month on the web and €8/month on iOS and Android will apply for each additional account listed in a user’s Account Center.
That’s a high price to pay to read your racist uncle’s rants and see the heavily photoshopped photos of some random influencer peddling vitamin pills.
That’s the point, right? Facebook has to give users the option to subscribe, but would much prefer users to just continue to use the ad-filled data scraping service as-is.
Huh. Already have ad-free facebook — thanks to their “m.” web page and uBlockOrigin.
This is interesting and a step in the right direction.
A better option would be:
– Monthly fee with no ads and no selling of data (only very limited telemetry for site improvements)
– Free access with ads enabled but no selling of data (as above)
– Facebook pays the users a small fee to have an account with no ads but permission to sell data enabled
– Facebook pays users a larger monthly fee to have an account with ads and permission to sell data enabled
It’s a workable business model.
NathanJHill,
Cutting users into the ad revenue might make ads more palpable for some. But 20 years ago some services did this and students at my university were running autoclickers to get paid for ads while they were away from their computers.
So if you implemented this business model, you’d have to cap it so people don’t get any bright ideas, haha.
Alfman,
I believe we tried “everything under the sun”, and coming back to the original Internet where services are either provided by your organization (university, company, ISP), bundled with something else (gmail on google workspace), or you directly pay for them (proton mail). Of course it is always possible to host them yourself (but ironically getting more difficult over time).
I believe ads will still be part of the equation. Many people are content with trading 30 seconds for paying less (I have for example been on that tier in Hulu for many years). But others will just go for the “premium”.
(We also tried as you said ad revenue sharing, which did not work. We also did some crazy web3 experiments, which went nowhere. And there is still not solution to “micropayments” for content. Only large providers like Medium, Apple News, and similar where you pay for a group subscription is there).
I support a requirement for an ad-free, subscription-based version of any service.
I was about to delete my FB account multiple times. Still, it turns out that it is always needed for sth. Friends that I was partying with. Students from Uni. Now, I needed it for interaction with neighbors.
Bogdanow,
You can access STH right here, what do you need facebook for? 🙂
https://www.servethehome.com/
Yeah, I’m not on facebook, but then again I’m fortunate enough to have no friends such it’s not a great loss 🙁
STH – nice one. Decent site actually.