Facebook and Instagram to get £2.99 UK subscription fee to stop ads

Facebook and Instagram owner Meta is launching paid subscriptions for users who do not want to see adverts in the UK.

The company said it would start notifying users in the coming weeks to let them choose whether to subscribe to its platforms if they wish to use them without seeing ads.

EU users of its platforms can already pay a fee starting from €5.99 (£5) a month to see no ads – but subscriptions will start from £2.99 a month for UK users.

“It will give people in the UK a clear choice about whether their data is used for personalised advertising, while preserving the free access and value that the ads-supported internet creates for people, businesses and platforms,” Meta said.

But UK users will not have an option to not pay and see “less personalised” adverts – a feature Meta added for EU users after regulators raised concerns.

The changes come after the UK’s data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), published guidance for firms about ad-free subscriptions earlier this year.

The advertising model, known as “consent or pay”, has emerged as a way for owners of digital platforms to generate revenue from users who decline to be tracked across its services and other sites.

News publishers are among those which have adopted the mechanism in the UK so far – often asking users to “accept all” tracking cookies or “reject and pay”.

Meta said its own model would see its subscription for no ads cost £2.99 a month on the web or £3.99 a month on iOS and Android apps – with the higher fee to offset cuts taken from transactions by Apple and Google.

The ICO welcomed the move, describing it as an important shift in the company’s existing approach to targeting users with personalised adverts.

“This moves Meta away from targeting users with ads as part of the standard terms and conditions for using its Facebook and Instagram services, which we’ve been clear is not in line with UK law,” an ICO spokesperson said.

Earlier this year, the tech giant agreed to stop targeting adverts at a British woman using her data after she filed a lawsuit against it.

Tanya O’Carroll argued Facebook’s targeted advertising system was covered by the UK’s definition of direct marketing, giving individuals the right to object.

Meta said pricing for its subscription for no ads in the UK was among the lowest on the market.

An ICO spokesperson said Meta had “significantly lowered the starting price point at which users would be offered a subscription” while engaging with the regulator.

“As a result, users in the UK will be able to subscribe at a price point close to half that of EU users,” they added.

The company faced scrutiny from EU regulators over its approach to rolling out its subscriptions for the bloc’s users.

In response to concerns about the cost of its subscriptions in the EU, which previously started from €9.99 a month, it reduced its prices.

Meta also provide an additional option for users not willing to pay to allow them to see “less personalised” adverts. UK users will not have this option.

The company reiterated its critical stance on the EU on Friday, saying its regulations were creating a worse experience for users and businesses unlike the UK’s “more pro-growth and pro-innovation regulatory environment”.