"Thousands of us looking to procrastinate on Instagram this morning were halted by a new paid sign-up page. The vast majority of us who steered clear of the 'ad-free' tier, given Instagram has been sponsor and ad heavy in recent years anyway, are now taking part in a trial to see how heavily the platform can bombard us with ads before we succumb. The alternative is a monthly fee of £2.99."
"Meta is officially trialling premier subscriptions for Instagram. Those staying on the free version are already being bombarded with ads, and many say the standard experience is being deliberately degraded. Instagram's core services remain free to use, but you can now expect ads to appear within every few posts on your timeline or reels. The new integration is anything but subtle, making roughly a third of screen time on the app dedicated to ads."
"UK and EU regulators have already squeezed billions out of the conglomerate for breaches related to data processing, targeted advertising, and transparency failures over the last decade. By bottlenecking users into a 'consent or pay' model - which has the terms of its data collecting concealed in blocks of small print - it has technically complied with the need to be transparent about how its targeted ads work."
Meta has started a trial offering a paid 'ad-free' premium tier for Instagram while increasing ad frequency for free users. Free timelines and reels now show ads every few posts, occupying roughly a third of screen time, with a £2.99 monthly option to avoid them. The move adopts a 'consent or pay' approach that buries data-collection terms in small print while aiming to satisfy transparency requirements. The change appears risky for user retention but offers Meta a predictable subscription revenue stream amid regulatory fines and heavy investment in AI, metaverse projects, and data centres.
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