Meta is making a simple but profound bet in the UK: that you value your digital privacy at less than a fiver a month. The new subscription service, priced at £3.99 for mobile users, is a direct challenge to consumers to put a price on their own data.
The service, which also covers Facebook and Instagram on the web for £2.99, is Meta’s solution to a regulatory headache. By offering a paid opt-out, it satisfies UK law. But its financial success hinges on most users deciding that £3.99 is too much to pay for an ad-free experience, thus keeping them in the lucrative, ad-supported pool.
This bet has been sanctioned by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which has approved the model. The ICO’s acceptance of a paid choice provides the legal framework for Meta’s gamble on consumer apathy or price sensitivity.
This is a bet Meta is not allowed to make in the EU. Regulators there have forbidden the model, stating that privacy is a right, not a wager. The EU’s €200m fine underscores its belief that companies cannot gamble with fundamental user rights.
The results of Meta’s bet in the UK will be revealing. It will provide a real-world answer to the question of how much, in concrete financial terms, the average person values their privacy in the digital age.