Facebook is now showing subscribe or continue with ads prompts to EU users
If you are accessing Facebook from the European Union, Switzerland or the European Economic Area, you may see a prompt that asks you to make a choice. Want to subscribe or continue using our Products for free with ads is what uses from these regions may see when they access the site.
Revealed in September 2023 for the first time, it is an attempt by Meta to appease EU regulators.
The prompt is displayed automatically to users and there is no option to use Facebook until a choice has been made. The choice, in this case, is to either pay a monthly subscription free to use Facebook and Instagram without ads, or to continue using the two services for free but with ads.
Meta writes: "Laws are changing in your region, so we're introducing a new choice about how we use your info for ads. You'll learn more about what each option means for you before you confirm your choice. Your choice will apply to the accounts in this Account Center".
The Account Center page can be opened, but it is one of the few pages on Facebook that works while the prompt is open.
The two choices are:
- Subscribe to use without ads -- Subscribe to use your Facebook and Instagram accounts without ads, starting at €9.99 per month (inclusive of applicable taxes). Your info won't be used for ads.
- Use for free with ads -- Discover products and brands through personalized ads, while using your Facebook and Instagram accounts for free. Your info will be used for ads.
Meta highlights the current experience and provides a link to compare the choices and how they may affect the experience on Facebook and Instagram. The link points to a support article on the Facebook website.
There, Meta highlights the following differences between the two options. Free with ads users will continue to see ads on the platforms. They won't pay for the service and information of users will be used for ads.
Paying subscribers won't see ads in the products. They pay a monthly subscription fee and their information is not used for ads.
The subscription fee depends on the platform. All users who plan to subscribe should do so in a web browser and not in apps on mobile devices. Meta charges extra in this case to take into account the fees that Google's and Apple's platforms charge.
Meta displays more information once users make a choice. Those who select the free route will see the following screen.
Users agree to let Meta use information from accounts for ads and to give Meta the right to use cookies on its products to personalize ads and measure their performance.
Meta users who select the subscribe option see the following screen.
There, users are informed that the price of 9.99 EUR per month is valid through March 1. After the day, users will have to pay 9.99 per month for a single account and 6 EUR extra for any additional account. In other words, if you have one Facebook and one Instagram account, you pay 15.99 EUR after March 1, 2024.
Facebook users may change the choice they have made at any time in the Ad Preferences.
A click or tap on the current status, e.g., free with ads, displays a prompt to switch to the other product.
Meta notes that users may do so at any time.
Closing Words
Facebook users from the aforementioned regions have a new choice, which is good. Whether it is reasonable to pay roughly 120 EUR per year to Meta for an ad-free experience is up to each individual user.
Now You: would you pay Meta money to use Instagram and Facebook ad-free?
I do not live in the EU, but traveled there this year. I now can not use FB unless I click on one of the 2 choices, and do not want this.
I did message Meta but got the generic reply only.
Messaged again saying I do not live anywhere in the EU or Switzerland and how to rectify but no reply. Not one of my friends here in Australia has this but me
How can I rectify this.
every time i choose, “use for free” then it moves one page forward,
i choose “agree” then it ask again to “subscribe” or “use for free”
why does it stuck in this loop?
I have the same problem, also option ad preferences is not working.
You could try a different browser, maybe that is going to work.
its working now, was a glitch, I guess my profile was not fully transfered.
as I logged in today (16.11) and choosed “for free” it worked, so all others with the same issue, try it a few days later again
I’m getting same issue, no matter what browsers and devices I’m are using
I have tried 2 different laptops and 4 different browsers.
Cleared cookies and data.
My option to use for Free is not accepted.
It takes me back to the beginning.
I got this popup for the first time today, after being on FB for several hours. But the click box on the 2nd screen (where you click Agree for the free version) only takes me back to the first screen where you click Free. I’ve tried it numerous times, cleared cookies, tried it again, both on desktop and laptop. The selection simply isn’t working. Any suggestions?
same here. i dont use this crap for 2 years, and yet I’m still amased that it got even worse! lol
I just got back to CA from traveling in Europe and I got the same message on my phone and on my laptop. There’s no way for me to tell them that I’m not in Europe, so this should not apply to me.
Facebook now showing subscribe or continue with ads prompts to EU users makes me wonder about three points:
1- What is the most lucrative for Facebook, ads or 10€/month?
2- How do ad-blockers handle Facebook ads, does the company have a special recipe for blocking ad-blockers à la YouTube? If not, if ad-blockers successfully block ads on Facebook, then answer to point (1) is obvious.
3- What guarantees that a paid subscription will avoid, beyond ads, user tracking or at least user data gathering?
Me? I’ve never used whatever social website unless to consider YouTube is one of them, for which I’ve never had an account and whose videos I view via a front-end service. It’s not a money problem and it’s not only a privacy concern, it’s the very concept that I dislike : I think that most of us don’t think naturally so to say within a wide audience which is intended to express thoughts which have been built intimately or within a small number of “co-thinkers” and the healthy dialog it’s meant to allow (that’s the idea, because factually jungle behavior is often, even there, even then , the implicit law). So from there if a wide audience there is, Facebook is undoubtedly leader of the band. Don’t count me out, I’ve never been in and likely never will.
“Facebook users from the aforementioned regions have a new choice, which is good.”
Choice? It just locked me out in the middle of a conversation with a friend, and now I can’t see the unread messages without either agreeing to sharing my personal data with advertisers or paying money. I agree that there should be a choice rather than just selling the data without my consent, but this is more like a ransom now.
Yes, you have a choice. Pay for a service with your data, pay for a service with money, don’t use the service. How you have no choice? Yes, you don’t have the choice you want… to use the service without paying anything (data or money). Welcome to the real world, even for public services you pay, you pay with your taxes.
Has ‘Fakebook’ merged with Edge, creating the ultimate-tracking IP?
Even when one doesn’t use Edge or Fakebook?
looks like this “” edge -z-p4 -shv- 01-yyz1 .facebook.com “”
Only part of the story here @ “” https://confection.io/trackers/edge-star-shv-01-ord1-facebook-com/ “”
I recommend the third choice: delete Facebook and Instagram.
That has been my choice (including whatsapp and twitter/x for several years; life is actually better without those annoying services. In the very rare cases (perhaps once or twice a year) where I need them for some reason. I dummy up an account using a temporary email address, and then immediately delete the account, the email address and all related cookies when I am done with the service.
Bottom line: no fees, no ads, and none of the annoyances associated with social media (biased news, people venting about nonsense, etc., etc.)
Good choice and plus block all facebook and instagram and whatsapp with dns server.
Yeah, I noticed that. I chose to use it for free since I use FB Purity that takes away all sponsored posts and ads.
Thanks JuhaT for introducing me to FB Purity