Facebook and Instagram begin charging for ad-free feeds

Facebook and Instagram have started to charge Irish and European users €12.99 per month for access to Facebook or Instagram without advertisements.

It will cost €12.99 per month for all accounts until March of next year under the new system, after which it will rise to €12.99 for one account and €8 for every additional account.

However, at the moment a subscription will cost €10 a month if you sign up online. 

Evan Mangan of the Marketing Crowd explained: "It’s important to understand why Meta is launching this. One reason could be to generate revenue. But few people are likely to spend €120 a year to get something that they are used to getting for free. And is an ad free version worth €120?

"The real reason is that it is a response to the recent Digital Services Act in the EU which is forcing social media companies to give every EU citizen the ability to opt out of data tracking for ads. If most people opt out then Ads on Facebook and Instagram in the EU will be far less targeted and less effective.

"So Meta is launching this as a way to be compliant. They are arguing that if you want to opt out of Data tracking then you can sign up for the subscription service. If you want to continue using Facebook and Instagram for free then you need to consent to data tracking.  It is unclear whether the EU have agreed that this would make Meta compliant," Evan said. 

"If however the EU rejects this, then there will be a huge impact on the effectiveness of Facebook and Instagram ads in the coming months," Evan added.