An ad-free subscription at a reduced rate
Meta has therefore announced a significant drop in prices for its advertising-free subscription. From now on, this subscription goes from €9.99 to €5.99 per month if you subscribe on the web via your computer, and from €12.99 to €7.99 if you subscribe via your smartphone on iOS and Android. If you want this to work on all your accounts, additional accounts also benefit from reduced rates: €4 per month on the web and €5 on mobile. These price adjustments should make the ad-free subscription more accessible and offer a competitive alternative to the paid options of other platforms. Current subscribers will automatically see their bills adjusted according to these new rates.
Free option and less personalized advertising
For users preferring the free option, Meta will also offer a new less personalized advertising model. These ads, less targeted, rely only on basic information such as age, gender, location and activity during the session (that’s not bad anyway…). This format complies, according to Meta, with the requirements of the DMA regarding the protection of personal dataalthough it reduces the effectiveness of ads in terms of user relevance, and is therefore less profitable for Meta.
Reactions from associations and doubts about compliance
Despite these adjustments, digital rights associations and the European Commission remain skeptical. The Meta model, considered restrictive, according to them only offers a limited choice: accept targeted advertisements or pay to remove them. The NOYB organization believes, for example, that this system does not guarantee truly free consent and criticizes the persistence of a model pay or consent
. In July 2024, the European Commission had already questioned the compliance of this offer with the DMA, opening an investigation which could lead to sanctions of up to 20% of Meta’s global turnover in the event of a repeat offense.
An impact on Meta’s advertising revenue
The introduction of less targeted advertising could affect Meta’s revenue, with Europe accounting for 23% of its advertising revenue. Meta explains that this reduction in advertising precision could penalize small European businessesfor whom targeted ads are a major growth lever. The group is therefore groping and trying to meet the requirements of regulators while preserving a viable economic model. The European Commission has not yet validated this approach and is continuing its investigation until the end of March 2025, leaving some uncertainty surrounding the future of Meta’s advertising model in the European Union. To be continued.
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