Which would mean a paid Facebook or Instagram in Europe, something that Meta is considering due to certain regulatory issues.
Goalcompany that owns social networks of the caliber of Instagram and Facebookknown for storing a lot of user information, could face a big problem in Europe in the short term.
In fact, Meta has not even dared to launch its new social network Threads in Europe yet due to regulatory concerns, while social networks like Facebook or instagram They are going to have to restructure in the old continent.
And according to The New York Times, Meta is seriously thinking about offering a paid subscription to be able to access Facebook or Instagram in Europe, and in exchange stop showing you advertising.
It is quite common for applications to offer paid subscriptions so as not to display advertising to users, but in this case we are talking about social networks that have always been free, so the user would be hit hard.
However, there are many doubts about it, and apparently it would be a voluntary decisionthat is, only the users interested in paying a subscription would be those who did not see the advertising.
The rest of the users who continue to opt for the free Facebook and Instagram, would continue to see ads in their feeds.
At the moment a hypothetical price or date of availability of a paid Instagram or Facebook is unknown, but in view of the importance of this decision, it does not seem that it will take place in the short term and it is likely that it will not even happen.
Meta and its endless regulatory friction with the EU
Meta has been fighting with the European Union in recent months over alleged privacy violations for its ad tracking and data transfer services.
However, the Irish Data Protection Commission has already fined Meta $1.3 billion for transferring European user data to the United States, thus violating the GDPR.
While the United States and the European Union recently signed a data transfer agreement easing restrictions on social media platforms, there is some concern from Meta about the upcoming Digital Markets law that, among other things, would prevent companies from reusing the personal data of users for certain purposes.