Meta vs European privacy
Are you ready to pay for Meta products?
Hi Euro sharkies,
are you ready to pay for your favorite social media networks?
Well, maybe not favorite (Facebook needs to work on catching up), but if you are a “heavy” Instagram user such as my wife (👋 honey), and you live in Europe…November will be interesting!
“To comply with evolving European regulations, we are introducing a new subscription option in the EU, EEA and Switzerland. In November, we will be offering people who use Facebook or Instagram and reside in these regions the choice to continue using these personalized services for free with ads, or subscribe to stop seeing ads. While people are subscribed, their information will not be used for ads.
Before we go into details, if you like our work it would mean a lot to us if you 👇
or…
Meta European plan
So, your first thought might be how much does it cost, and do I have to pay it?
No, you can still have a free account, and continue to see advertisements. However, if you decide to go for the paid version, this is what awaits you 👇
“People in these countries will be able to subscribe for a fee to use our products without ads. Depending on where you purchase it will cost €9.99/month on the web or €12.99/month on iOS and Android. As is the case for many online subscriptions, the iOS and Android pricing take into account the fees that Apple and Google charge through respective purchasing policies. Until March 1, 2024, the initial subscription covers all linked accounts in a user’s Accounts Center. However, beginning March 1, 2024, an additional fee of €6/month on the web and €8/month on iOS and Android will apply for each additional account listed in a user’s Account Center.”
The worst case scenario is that you will be paying €20,99 if you are using the Facebook and Instagram paid version on your mobile phone.
You might be asking yourself how did Meta come up with this pricing? Well, the answer might be here 👇
What Meta will be charging to users is “roughly” how much users are worth to Meta advertisement wise…
But, now comes the big question…will this make Meta compliant with the European regulation? Does this mean that if you don’t pay for the subscription you are compliant with Meta using your data for personalized advertisement across all of their platforms?
Well, that is the question…let’s try to get more info on that!
Will Meta European plan fail?
If I knew the answer to this question, most likely I wouldn’t be here writing this newsletter 😂
However, I can help you understand the problem better so you can decide for yourself…
To protect people’s privacy, the European Court of Justice, the highest court in the E.U., effectively barred Meta in July from combining data collected about users across its platforms — including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — as well as from outside websites and apps, unless it received explicit consent from users. That came after a January decision by E.U. regulators to fine Meta 390 million euros for forcing users to accept personalized ads as a condition of using Facebook.
But, check this out 👀
In its July decision, the European Court of Justice indicated that offering a subscription service in Europe may be a way to comply with the judgment, Meta said. A subscription can allow users to access the platforms without having their personal data used to sell ads.
Well, some people have a different opinion 👇
Max Schrems, a privacy activist in Austria whose legal challenges targeting Meta helped lead to the product changes, said the subscription offerings do not comply with the E.U. data privacy law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation. He vowed to challenge it in court.
“If we move to a pay-for-your-rights system, it will depend on how deep your pockets are if you have a right to privacy,” Mr. Schrems said. “We are very skeptical if this is compliant with the law.”
But, Meta is not the only US company that is having problems with European regulators…
Apart from Meta, Apple is expected by March to be required to allow customers to download alternatives to its App Store for the first time because of another E.U. law, called the Digital Markets Act. The Digital Markets Act was passed last year to boost competition in the tech industry. Google is also making changes to comply with the new law.
Last December, Amazon also made changes to its shopping service to give third-party merchants access to more valuable real estate on the company’s website, under terms of a settlement with E.U. antitrust regulators.
As it turns out, GDPR is not compliant with Meta's core “money-making operation”, and that is selling users' data to 3rd parties. Europe is a big market, and the “Average Revenue per User” is higher than the worldwide average so I don’t think that Meta has any other option that somehow becomes compliant.
Will this be in the form of a subscription or changing the whole business model…this remains open.
Tell us what you think 👇