Since yesterday, Poles on Facebook and Instagram, i.e. on the very popular online services of Meta, have the opportunity to choose between paying for using the website without ads or watching ads. This option was introduced by Facebook and Instagram in response to European Union regulations on collecting data for advertising purposes aimed at these services. It's about the so-called profiling users, i.e. selecting advertisements that they may be potentially interested in. Of course, such profiling can be done better or worse, and adapting the ads may mean that we not only see ads for the products we are interested in, but also use more convincing language.
According to Meta's offers visible to users, the monthly fee for using Facebook and Instagram without ads is 9.99 (today) or about 12 euros (yesterday). The initial subscription includes all connected user accounts and is valid until March 1, 2024 1.
The new option to choose between paying and watching ads is the result of changing European Union law, including: introduction of restrictions on the collection of data for advertising purposes or the entry into force of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) 23.
Does this mean that Facebook will actually track my data and the websites I visit less? Will I be less profiled?
The new option to choose between paying for a subscription and watching ads is the result of changing European Union law, including: introduction of restrictions on the collection of data for advertising purposes or the entry into force of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) 123. These regulations gradually limit the ability to track users on the Internet without their consent, such consent is a choice - advertising or paid subscription.
However, the introduction of a new selection option does not clearly mean that Facebook will track your data less from now on. However, under the new regulations, Facebook must provide users with more information about how it collects and uses their data 1.
If you want to limit Facebook tracking your data, you can adjust your privacy settings. Visit the Privacy Center for information about managing your data, including what information is visible to other users, what data is used to personalize ads, and what tools are available to manage your data 12.
Do you remember how after logging in to FB there was information "that it is and will always be free"?
It turns out that the website's authors were unable to keep their word after being pressured by the European Union. It is easy to imagine that none of the television stations that are currently available free of charge would be able to make their programs available for free if a ban on advertising was suddenly introduced.
Similarly, during Mark Zuckenberg's hearing in the US Congress, one of the Senators (already older) asked the Facebook CEO in a broader context how it is possible that users do not pay for the service Facebook provides them?
Facebook's CEO responded “Mr. Senator… we run ads.”
So the question is to what extent we feel threatened today and how much we value our privacy - in terms of advertising. There are those who do not mind that advertisements are and will be tailored to them, others do not want to provide corporations with information about themselves - even anonymized data about their interests. After all, no one at Facebook's headquarters is personally interested in the fact that nice Marcin Kowalski - a medical student from Wrocław likes to buy erotic gadgets, and his wife quietly buys books on natural medicine - even though this may ultimately lead to their divorce. However, this is important for Faceook advertisers who buy ads on this website. So if Marcin, when opening his laptop during classes and turning on Facebook for a moment, wants to be sure that he won't see a whip ad, and his wife doesn't want her husband to be annoyed every day by advertisements for Sister Anastazja's medicinal herbs, purchasing such a subscription makes some sense.