Meta Platforms is giving users a chance to breathe a sigh of relief when subscribing to its Instagram and Facebook apps.
The company announced today that the monthly subscription fee was nearly half, going down from 9.9 euros to just 5.9. This was confirmed through a blog post generated by one leading Meta executive who says the decision was taken due to both privacy and antitrust concerns.
The reduction in pricing arrives at a time when the tech giant is already facing a huge amount of criticism about its rollout of subscriptions for Meta’s apps without ads. Critics say the only way to achieve this is by making users roll out fees to have privacy in check and they don’t think it’s fair to charge such a huge amount.
The rule was rolled out by Meta last year in November in regards to the Digital Markets Act that is designed to prevent personalized ads targeting users daily while they use the platforms. And that too, without any kind of consent provided. And it’s impacting their revenue source big time.
The firm mentioned how the fee model is designed to attain a balance to the growing demands of the privacy laws across the EU and the Digital Markets Act. Facebook’s parent firm also mentioned how they wished to really speed up the process for a while now because they wished to get stability.
Now, they’re dropping prices for both usual and additional accounts.
Meta’s lawyer has also chimed in to add how the company has been wanting to make the change for a while now and the fact that it’s already happening is a miracle in itself, he explained during a recent hearing for the company.
This has to be the lowest price that a Meta subscriber should pay, Meta reiterated, hoping the decision is welcomed by the masses with open arms. It makes sense as the uncertainty regarding the regulatory ordeal is present today and must settle down fast, it hopes.
However, privacy activists feel the issue here is not linked to costs. It’s more related to giving people their rights for free and not being forced to pay money to opt out of ad-targeting practices.
As per the GDPR, this is a consent that every individual is entitled to and it’s boldly documented in the privacy law of the EU.
Others feel even the fee is not the issue but the concerns arising here have to do with the approach of pay or okay. The whole initiative critics feel is to get people to press on okay, even if it’s not the free and genuine choice of them all. They don’t feel that a mere change in pricing would help in normalizing the act.
The hearing has given users of Meta and those belonging to third parties the chance to get more clarity on the subject and how it would comply with the respective DMA law.
We’ve also heard how Meta rolled out the offer of subscription fee reduction to regulators during this year’s start and is now talking about it with data protectors too, including the mighty watchdog in Ireland.
Those giving out consent for tracking will get free services funded with the help of ad revenue. But we must also remember how firms breaching the Digital Markets Act now would be liable to pay as much as 10% of the yearly global turnover.
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