Meta is reportedly considering a new paid tier of Facebook and Instagram for users in the EU which would allow those customers to use the social networks without seeing any advertisements.
The company is considering the paid plans as a way to get around privacy concerns and other scrutiny from EU regulators, The New York Times reports, citing three people with knowledge of the company’s plans.
If Meta did offer paid Instagram and Facebook accounts in the EU it would also continue to offer the free versions. It’s also currently unclear what the cost would be for the paid accounts, only that they would be ad-free.
Meta’s ads involve analyzing user’s data to serve them ads tailored to their particular interests. It’s run into issues in the EU with the enactment of GDPR, which protects individual’s online data in the country.
The Digital Series Act also just went into effect in the country, which requires services like Meta to offer a content feed that does not use their personal information for customizations, and soon the EU plans to enact the Digital Marketers Act (DMA), which will force big tech platforms to make changes to encourage competition.
The thought within Meta is that by offering a paid version of Facebook and Instagram and allowing users to opt out of the ad-free version it will be alleviating some of the regulator’s concerns.
It wouldn't be the first time Meta has altered one of its services for the EU.
Meta has currently blocked people in the EU from accessing its new service Threads, even when using a VPN over DMA concerns.
Under the DMA, Meta is prohibited from reusing an individual’s data, including things like their name or location, across its products without getting expressed permission from that user. For instance, Meta would not be allowed to use the information it learned about a user from Facebook to advertise to them on Threads and vice versa.
Meta has also previously threatened to remove both Facebook and Instagram from the EU over European data rules.
