By Saskia Koopman
Copyright cityam
Meta is preparing to roll out a new subscription service in the UK that will allow users to pay to remove ads from Facebook and Instagram, raising questions about the future of ‘free’ social media.
Over the coming weeks, UK users will see notifications explaining the change. Those who want to avoid ads can subscribe for £2.99 per month on the web or £3.99 on iOS and Android, while those who continue using the platforms for free will still see personalised advertising.
Additional accounts will incur a slightly lower cost to add to a subscription.
Meta says the move follows guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on ‘consent or pay’ models, which require platforms to give people a genuine choice between consenting to data use for personalised advertising or paying to avoid it.
“Those who choose to use our services for free, will continue to see ads on our platforms and will still be able to use all of the tools and settings that empower people to control their ads experience”, announced the social media giant.
What does this mean for Meta users?
For most people, the experience will remain unchanged: Facebook and Instagram will still be free to use, with ads continuing to appear in feeds.
Meta insists these ads will remain “personalised”, arguing they help small businesses reach customers and keep services free.
However, the introduction of a paid tier, one of the lowest-priced in Europe, raises bigger questions.
Will those who can’t or won’t pay end up seeing more ads to make up the difference? And could this split the user base, with only a minority opting for the ad-free experience
There is also concern around whether ‘consent or pay’ truly offers meaningful choice, or whether users may feel compelled to hand over their data rather than pay a monthly fee.
Meta, meanwhile, continues to rely heavily on advertising for revenue.
Last year, the company said its ad tools contributed £65 billion to the UK economy and supported over 350,000 jobs.
Meanwhile, recent reports suggest the firm has even explored using Google’s Gemini AI models to boost its ad-targeting capabilities – underlining how central ads remain to its business model.
