Following significant legal challenges and pressure from regulators, Meta has introduced a paid escape route for UK users wishing to avoid its powerful targeted advertising system. A new subscription service for Facebook and Instagram will allow individuals to remove ads from their feeds, fundamentally changing the user agreement that has underpinned the platforms for years.
This move is a direct result of Meta’s settlement of a court case brought by Tanya O’Carroll, a UK human rights campaigner. She alleged the company violated UK data laws by not respecting her right to object to her data being used for personalised ads. In the wake of that settlement, Meta began developing this subscription model as a way to provide a clear “opt-out” mechanism.
The service, which will roll out shortly, is priced at £3.99 per month for mobile users and £2.99 per month for web users, with one fee covering linked accounts. “This will give people based in the UK the choice between continuing to use Facebook and Instagram for free with personalised ads, or subscribing to stop seeing ads,” Meta stated, framing it as a matter of user choice.
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has welcomed the initiative, confirming that it considers this approach to be in line with UK law. The ICO had been firm that Meta’s original terms, which made ad targeting compulsory, were non-compliant. The new choice between a free, ad-supported service and a paid, ad-free one is seen by the regulator as a legitimate solution.
However, this UK-centric solution has been rejected by the European Union. In the EU, Meta was fined €200m by the European Commission, which argued that its similar subscription service violates the Digital Markets Act. The EU’s position is that users should not have to pay for privacy and that a less intrusive, free version is the only acceptable alternative, highlighting a major split in regulatory thinking with the UK.
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