Facebook and Instagram to Offer Subscription for No Ads in Europe | Meta

Despite our concerted efforts to comply with EU regulation, we have continued to receive additional demands from regulators that go beyond what is written in the law. In response to this feedback and to continue providing our services for free to as many EU citizens as possible, we are launching an additional option for EU users. Over the coming weeks, people in the EU who choose to use Facebook and Instagram for free with ads will be able to choose to see ‘less personalized ads’. This less personalized ads option relies on less data, so we’ll show ads based only on context – what a person sees in a particular session on Facebook and Instagram – and a minimal set of data points including a person’s age, location, gender, and how a person engages with ads.

What to expect from less personalized ads

While this new choice is designed to give people an additional control over their data and ad experience, it may result in ads that are less relevant to a person’s interests. That means people will see ads that they don’t find as interesting. This drop in relevance is inevitable given that drastically reduced data is being used to show these less personalized ads to people.

In a low data environment, we will also introduce ad breaks to allow advertisers to connect with a wider audience. This means that some of the ads people will see in the less personalized ads experience will be unskippable for a few seconds. Such ad breaks are common across other services, and are already offered by many of our competitors. This change will help us continue to provide value to advertisers which ensures we can offer people a less personalized ads experience at no charge.

We will inform people based in the EU using Facebook and Instagram with ads about this new option to see less personalized ads when we again ask them whether they wish to subscribe or continue to use our products for free with ads. The notification will be dismissible for a while before it becomes non-dismissible. This choice can be made or revisited at any time in a person’s ad settings alongside our existing range of tools and controls that give people choice over how their data is used for ads.

Personalized ads deliver more value for people and businesses

This is the second time in a year we have made significant changes to our business model in the EU to address regulatory feedback, which is testament to our commitment to complying with evolving EU regulations and offering people control over their experiences. Although we are being put in a position where we have to offer an ads experience that delivers less value for people and businesses, we will also continue to deliver great personalized experiences that are the best outcome for people and businesses in Europe.

Personalized ads are valuable to both individuals and businesses because they allow people to connect with the brands and products that are most relevant to them. Personalized ads are particularly beneficial for small businesses, which make up over 99% of businesses in the EU and employ over 100 million people across the region, because they can reach customers most likely to be interested in what they offer in the most cost-effective way. 

Studies show that personalized ads boost revenues for companies that show ads on our platforms, with European businesses earning €107 billion in revenue from personalized ads on our platforms every year, driving economic growth and supporting jobs. Each €1 spent on Meta ads yields €3.79 in advertiser revenues in Europe. This value is only available through personalized advertising but is at risk of decline because if EU regulation makes digital advertising less efficient, the entire European business community suffers. Similar to when Apple’s changes to App Tracking Transparency made it more difficult for small businesses to reach their customers, regulators making it more difficult and costly for companies to reach people will not deliver the economic growth that European stakeholders have called for.

The changes we’re announcing today meet EU regulator demands and go beyond what’s required by EU law. And we remain steadfast in our view that personalized ads are the best experience for people and businesses – and because people understand that value, we expect that most people will choose our personalized ads service even with these expanded options.

We firmly believe that personalized ads are a vital component of the ad-supported internet that has enabled access to free online services for hundreds of millions of EU citizens and billions of people around the world. We will continue to advocate for regulations that support the responsible use of personalized advertising, allowing us to maintain the high-quality, free services that people have come to expect from us.

Changes to our subscription model have been factored into our most recently announced business outlook and guidance. This post contains forward-looking statements, including about Meta’s business outlook and the evolving regulatory landscape. You should not rely on these statements as predictions of future events. Additional information regarding potential risks and uncertainties about our business and financial results can be found in our most recent Form 10-Q. Meta undertakes no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events.

 1. These changes will apply in the EU, EEA and Switzerland

 2. The different pricing for iOS and Android is because of the fees charged by Apple and Google through respective purchasing policies.

Update on December 4, 2023 at 2:00 AM PT:

We are committed to an ads-supported digital business model, because it is the cornerstone of an inclusive internet where everyone can access online services and content for free. It allows people to use services like Facebook and Instagram for free while benefiting from seeing personalised advertising, helping them discover new products and brands that are most relevant to them.

Personalised advertising also enables businesses of all sizes – particularly small and medium-sized businesses – to find customers most likely to be interested in what they offer. This creates considerable value for businesses: in Europe, every Euro spent on our ads drives on average 3.37 Euros in revenues for advertisers, supporting over €84 billion in business revenues every year.¹

However, Europe’s regulatory landscape is evolving. And with new regulatory interpretations of permitted legal bases for personalised advertising under the GDPR, as well as the coming into force of the Digital Markets Act, we are now required to offer people in the EU, EEA and Switzerland an alternative way of using Facebook and Instagram.

That’s why, in October, we announced that people in the EU could choose to continue to use Facebook and Instagram with ads, or they could choose to pay a monthly fee for a subscription service with no ads on Facebook and Instagram.² If a person chooses to subscribe, they won’t see ads and we will not process their information for personalised advertising. 

We introduced this choice, called ‘Subscription for no ads’, as our consent solution to comply with a unique combination of connected and sometimes overlapping EU regulatory obligations with differing compliance deadlines.

Subscriptions as an alternative to seeing advertising are a well-established and economically viable business model spanning many industries, from news publishing and gaming to music and entertainment. That’s why we believe it is the best compliance solution. Like countless other businesses, we believe it allows us to meet changing regulatory obligations while offering users a clear choice.

‘Subscription for no ads’ addresses the latest regulatory developments, guidance and judgments shared by leading European regulators and the courts over recent years. Specifically, it conforms to direction given by the highest court in Europe: in July, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) endorsed the subscriptions model as a way for people to consent to data processing for personalised advertising. And even before that decision, the validity of a subscription service as part of a model to obtain valid consent had been acknowledged by numerous European data protection authorities, including in France, Denmark and Germany.

Regardless of whether a person chooses to subscribe or not, everyone who uses Facebook and Instagram can continue to use our Privacy Centre to access the extensive range of tools that we have built to give people choice over the information they share and how we process their data. Those who choose to continue to see personalised ads will also continue to have full control over whether or not we use information from third party websites and apps to personalise the ads we show them. And as has been the case for people in the EU, EEA and Switzerland since 2018, unless a person actively opts in to see ads based on information from third parties, it won’t happen. 

Additionally, those who choose to continue to see personalised ads can also access features to further manage how their data is used to inform their ads, including Why am I seeing this ad? and our long-standing ad preferences tools. We remain committed to ensuring that people who choose to use our services for free continue to have a positive ad experience.

At Meta, we believe that technology is about giving everyone a voice, and that the best way to do that is to offer services for free – and that’s why we will always advocate for an internet funded by ads.