Meta plans to charge European customers to not see ads on Instagram and Facebook due to privacy laws: Report

Meta is planning to charge European customers nearly $14 a month to use Instagram on their phones without ads and nearly $17 a month for Instagram plus Facebook, but on desktop.

This comes as the social-media giant looks to navigate the European Union’s rules which aim to restrict showing users personalized ads without first seeking their consent, jeopardizing Meta’s main source of revenue, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

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The plan, which Meta calls “SNA,” or subscription no ads may be rolled out in the coming months in Europe.

It involves a charge of roughly €10 a month, equivalent to about $10.50, on desktop on a Facebook or Instagram account, and around €6 for each additional linked account, according to the report.

When it comes to mobile devices, the price would jump to roughly €13 a month since Meta would factor in commissions charged by Apple’s and Google’s app stores on in-app payments.

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However, this option to pay and not get ads may not be offered in the US anytime soon, according to the report which added that it is specifically to navigate the demands of EU regulators.

Meta has said that it hopes this will comply with the EU’s privacy rules as well as the Digital Markets Act.

Meta currently estimates 258 million monthly Facebook users and 257 million Instagram users for the first half of the year in the EU. This is out of the 3.88 billion monthly active people it has on its apps as of June 30, worldwide.

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Meta also reported that its overall revenue in Europe is roughly $17.88 per Facebook user in the second quarter, or just under $6 per user across all of its apps, on average, per month., according to the report.