UK Users Can Now Pay A Subscription To Opt Out Of Meta Ads

Meta is giving UK users a new choice on their platforms: keep seeing ads for free or pay a small monthly fee to remove them altogether. Over the next few weeks, users aged 18 and above will start receiving notifications about a new “Subscription for No Ads” option on Facebook and Instagram.

Those who want an ad-free experience will pay £2.99 a month if they subscribe through the web, or £3.99 if they use an iPhone or Android device. Extra accounts linked through Meta’s Accounts Centre will cost £2 more on the web or £3 on mobile. Meta said the higher mobile price is because Apple and Google charge additional fees through their app stores.

People who pay won’t see ads anymore after 24 hours from subscribing. Their personal data will no longer be used for ad targeting, but they will still be able to follow and see posts from creators and brands as normal. Those who continue using the free version will keep full access to features like Stories and Reels but will continue to see ads.

Why Is Meta Doing This In The UK?

Meta said the change comes after months of talks with the Information Commissioner’s Office, which has been looking into how tech firms handle user consent for ads. The company said this new option meets the UK’s regulatory guidance and gives people a choice about how their data is used.

The ICO’s handling of the issue differs from the EU’s stricter stance. Meta said EU regulators have forced the company to give users fewer personalisation options, which it claims has made the experience worse for both users and advertisers.

Meta described the UK’s environment as “pro-growth and pro-innovation,” saying it allows the company to keep both free and paid models. Meta says its advertising technology generated £65 billion in economic activity and supported over 357,000 jobs in the UK last year. The company added that personalised ads are what’s needed to helping small businesses reach customers who are likely to be interested in what they sell.

How Will This Affect People And Businesses?

For ordinary users, little will change unless they decide to subscribe. Those who stay on the free version can still control what ads they see through Meta’s Ad Preferences settings, where users can manage interests and hide unwanted topics. Meta said it does not sell personal data to advertisers.

Businesses will continue to run ads as usual, reaching the millions of users who choose the free version. According to Meta, every £1 spent on advertising on its platforms generates £3.82 in revenue for UK businesses. For those who subscribe, ads will disappear, though branded content from creators and pages they follow will still appear in feeds.

Now this decision could divide users because some might not mind having the chance to pay a small fee for peace from targeted ads, while others are not really understanding why they should have to pay for something that was always free.

What’s Happening Elsewhere In Europe?

Meta has also introduced the same choice for European users. In the EU, the subscription costs €5.99 per month for one account on the web and €7.99 on iOS or Android, with the extra accounts costing €4 or €5.

Those in the region who don’t subscribe will continue to see ads but can still adjust whether they want more or less personalisation in what appears. Meta said this regional rollout is as a result of the different privacy rules in Europe and the UK, which of course, separated from EU data law after Brexit.

The company said this model is in line with how other online services work, from streaming sites to news publications. They believe that it’s a new kind of trade-off: either keep the ads and stay free, or pay a few pounds a month for a quieter feed.

Whatever users choose, Meta insists that Facebook and Instagram will continue to work as before… the only real difference will be whether the scroll feels sponsored or free.