Meta, the parent company of social networks such as WhatsApp, Facebook or Instagram, would be considering the possibility of offering paid versions of these last two apps with the aim of eliminating ads on the platform and complying with European data privacy regulations. .
For the good of European users, the European Union (EU) has been tightening the screws in recent years on technology companies that operate and/or offer products and services in its territory to ensure that the treatment of the data and the amount of data that it collects has standards that do not affect privacy and security of people.
This has been confirmed by The New York Times after speaking with people close to the matter, and they assure that in the paid versions the ads will disappears. And it is precisely that advertising is one of the EU’s concerns about social networks, since for a few years both Facebook and Instagram have had personalized ads for each account.
To do this, as the vast majority of companies do, they use cookies to analyze the pages a user accesses, their tastes and interests in order to later show you ads about things that you like and that attract your attention.
The EU does not entirely like this practice, as they consider it invasive and commercializes user information. To avoid sanctions or even the blocking of its apps in the EU territory, Meta is considering launch paid versions of Facebook and Instagram in which users would not see ads.
Although it should be noted that the company would continue to offer these platforms in its free version. In this way, they would be users who have the power to choose whether they want Meta to process and use their data to show you personalized advertising or, on the contrary, pay and do not use your information.
For now It is unknown what price these paid versions could have and when (if it happens) they will arrive in the EUwhat is clear is that Europe is sending a clear message to technology companies that things work as the regulations dictate and not as dictated by their economic interests. Now, the ball is in the court of the users who will have to decide whether to pay for their privacy or stay as they are.