Faced with increasing pressure from European regulations, the groups that own social networks are trying to find alternatives (more or less ethical) to comply while continuing to increase their revenue. The proposed Meta paid offer for the removal of advertisements on its Instagram and Facebook networks is, for example, one of these practices.
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Why are social networks gradually becoming profitable and what are the risks?
Although at the end of 2023, Meta claims to still believe in a free internet, financed by advertising (which brought it more than 116 billion dollars in 2022, or nearly 110 billion euros), subscriptions paid services are entering the market and could allow platforms to:
stabilize their income,
to improve the experience of their users,
to meet the requirements of the various regulations imposed.
The Meta group could in particular take advantage of this type of subscription to comply with data protection laws . Indeed, faced with a €390 million fine at the start of 2023 for non-compliance with European regulations (GDPR) and a record fine of €1.2 billion last May for the transfer of data from European users in the United States, (direct violation of the GDPR), the Meta group hopes to comply with the launch of its paid offer.
The subscription becomes, in the eyes of the group, a means Haiti Email List of requesting explicit consent from the user to receive personalized advertisements: if they pay, their personal data will not be used for advertising purposes.
The main points of the GDPR
On the user side, the wealthiest, who can afford the various paid subscriptions, will have an improved user experience and will be able to keep their data private, while those who do not wish to take out the subscription will be forced to share their data and, sometimes even, could no longer have permission to express themselves on the platforms (see: test of X in New Zealand and the Philippines).
On the other hand, the implementation of these paid subscriptions could also strongly influence the advertising market and advertisers, who would lose part of their targets.
What subscription for Meta?
The Meta group announced on October 30, 2023 the creation of a paid offer for the Instagram and Facebook networks used in countries where the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) applies. In November 2023 (presumed date of launch of the offer), users will be able to decide whether they wish to share their personal data to receive personalized advertisements on their social networks (free access to the application), or not to share them. and therefore no longer have advertising at all (with the paid subscription).