Meta could soon let EU users pay to hide personalized Facebook and Instagram ads. It comes only a couple of weeks after Elon Musk suggested Twitter/X would go behind a paywall. Forget ads, how much do I have to pay not to see the boomer Minions memes?

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Meta considers paid subscriptions for EU users

“It’s free and always will be”. Those words appeared on Facebook’s homepage from its early days until 2019. Now, under plans being considered by Meta, there could be another option.

Facebook and Instagram users in the EU may soon be able to pay a monthly subscription to avoid seeing personalized ads. It’s one option Meta is reportedly considering in order to comply with tougher European regulations on targeted ads.

Big tech companies will soon need to ask EU users for their consent before showing them personalized ads, and a court recently ruled that subscription models could be a way of handling that obligation.

How much would it set back users? The WSJ reports Meta would charge about $14 a month to use Instagram on their phones without ads, and nearly $17 a month for Instagram and Facebook on desktop.

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