Meta Platforms (META.O) has announced a significant reduction in its monthly subscription fee for Facebook and Instagram , slashing it from 9.99 euros to 5.99 euros, according to a senior Meta executive. This move comes amidst growing pressure from privacy and antitrust regulators, aiming to assuage concerns raised by various stakeholders.
The decision to cut prices stems from increasing criticism directed at Meta‘s ad-free subscription service in Europe, which has been accused by critics of essentially charging users for privacy protection .
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Introduced in November to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), this subscription service was a response to restrictions on Meta’s ability to personalize ads without explicit user consent, thereby impacting its primary revenue stream.
Explaining the rationale behind the pricing adjustment, Meta’s lawyer Tim Lamb stated during a European Commission hearing, “We have wanted to accelerate that process for some time because we need to get to a steady state … so we have offered to drop the price from 9.99 to 5.99 for a single account and 4 euros for any additional accounts.”
Lamb emphasized, “That is by far the lowest end of the range that any reasonable person should be paying for services of this quality. And I think that is a serious offer. The regulatory uncertainty at the moment is out there and it needs to settle down quickly.”
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However, Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems argued that the core issue lies beyond the fee itself. “We know from all research that even a fee of just 1.99 euros or less leads to a shift in consent from 3-10% that genuinely want advertisements to 99.9% that still click yes,” he said, referring to the EU privacy legislation, GDPR.
“In reality, it is not about the amount of money – it is about the ‘pay or okay’ approach as a whole. The entire purpose of ‘pay or okay’ is to get users to click on okay, even if this is not their free and genuine choice. We do not think the mere change of the amount makes this approach legal.”
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The ongoing hearing serves as a platform for Meta’s users and third parties to seek clarity regarding its compliance with the DMA. Meta had previously presented the reduced subscription fee offer to regulators earlier this year and is currently engaged in discussions with data protection authorities, particularly the Irish watchdog.
Under Meta’s revised model, users who consent to tracking will continue to enjoy a free service supported by advertising revenues. However, companies risk facing fines of up to 10% of their annual global turnover for breaches of the DMA.
