Goal is preparing to charge for the use of Facebook and instagram in Europe. The giant of social networks is studying launching a subscription plan that allows European users to access a version of both platforms without ads for 13 euros per month, as announced ‘The Wall Street Journal‘.
The company headed by Mark Zuckerberg has made this proposal to the regulators of the European Union (EU). With it, they try to circumvent the rules imposed by Brusselswhich last December ruled that Meta cannot require European users to accept personalized ads that are based on tracking their activity.
Thus, Meta would have conveyed to the European authorities its intention to launch “in the coming months” a plan so that European users can use Facebook and Instagram without having to see ads based on their behavior. Its cost would be 13 euros per month. The price would be 10 euros to access a version for desktop computers. For each new linked account, another six euros must be paid.
If the user does not want to check out, they must accept the use of their data for advertising purposes, according to the Meta proposal seen by ‘The Wall Street Journal’. However, this measure may not be liked either in Brussels or in Ireland, where the company has its fiscal headquarters. Thus, regulators could demand a change so that Meta does not put a price on the right to privacy of users residing in the EU.
Blow to the advertising business
Until now, Zuckerberg had defended that the applications he controls should be free to allow access to everyone. However, the company has pivoted its new strategy as EU measures threaten to hit its pocketbook.
The decision of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), which calls for restricting the use of personalized advertising without prior consent, was a hard blow for the owner of Facebook and Instagram. Their lucrative business is based on the sale of advertisements To thirds. Thus, 97.5% of 114,934 million dollars that entered in 2021 came from the advertising.
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Both platforms track user activity to know them in depth and thus be able to segment them into profiles that are highly desired by advertisers. However, this practice conflicts with the community laws of Data Protection.
This is not the first time that Meta has tried to maneuver in response to EU measures that seek to regulate the activity of technology giants and put a stop to their abusive practices. In February 2022, the company threatened to withdraw from Europe if Brussels did not modify the law to allow data from European citizens to be sent to USA. After years of controversy, this July the European Comission approved a new framework that will allow this transfer of data to the other side of the Atlantic despite the fact that it was previously considered an unsafe destination.