Meta plans to charge 17 euros a month in Europe to use Instagram and Facebook without being tracked

It seems that the era of free Internet apps is coming to an end. At least when it comes to social media. Paid Instagram and Facebook are very close.

The Wall Street Journal has revealed that Meta plans to launch a paid version of Instagram and Facebook in Europe , to meet the demands of the European Union. It manages figures of 14 euros per month for using the Instagram app without advertising and without mobile tracking, and 17 euros at least for the Instagram and Facebook combo.

According to this leak from The Wall Street Journal , access from a computer will cost a little less, since on mobile you have to pay the 30% commission to Apple and Google stores. The paid Facebook and Instagram mobile apps will have a separate subscription to the PC, for 14 or 17 euros per month.

The free Instagram and Facebook apps will continue to exist, but you will have to sign an agreement to receive personalized advertising , that is, you allow yourself to be tracked . Additionally, users must give permission often, every time a certain company or service wants to show you personalized advertising.

Another nightmare like “accept cookies on this website”, which we see every time we enter a page.

Paid Instagram and Facebook are here

Companies like Meta or Google have become the richest in the world, thanks to the tracking of users to offer them personalized advertising , and the sale of data and statistics.

They argue that this tracking is anonymous, but that is not entirely true. Each user is assigned an ID with which to track them, and that ID is unique to them, so it is possible to locate them, as was demonstrated with the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which no one remembers anymore .

Things have improved, but the tracking and extraction of information is still being done. The European Union requires Internet giants to offer options so that users are not tracked , and apparently Meta is going to offer them… under a paid subscription.

According to the leak, in the coming weeks Meta will make public the plan, which will be applied “in some countries of the European Union .” The strange thing is that it’s not all of them.

plan that will test the “loyalty” of users to Instagram and Facebook . Will they be willing to pay 17 euros per month to eliminate advertising and not be tracked ? Most likely not, because it has been demonstrated countless times that privacy matters very little to most users.

But with the new law, if they opt for the free version with advertising and tracking, they will be asked more often for permission to receive personalized advertising from specific brands .