Meta launches Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp subscriptions

Post by voxleone » Mon, Jun 01, 2026, 1:55 PM UTC

qqtt wrote: post #98

I'm going to go against the grain here and say this is probably a positive thing for Meta products, and honestly every other "free" service to provide these kinds of revenue avenues. How many times do we hear things like "if the product is free, you are the product" - well, the consequence of that is development resources tend to be pulled into directions that benefit advertisers. By having material subscription reve…

Post by specproc » Mon, Jun 01, 2026, 2:02 PM UTC

Post by douglee650 » Mon, Jun 01, 2026, 2:07 PM UTC

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #224

sensanaty wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You paying just signals that you're someone to push more ads to and to harvest more data on, since it means you have disposable income to spend on something as useless as instagram or facebook. Meta isn't going to stop harvesting all your information just because you pay for a subscription, they'll harvest and sell your data AND take your money.

"Meta isn't going to stop harvesting all your information just because you pay for a subscription, they'll harvest [and sell] your data AND take your money." (Meta sells access not data) Google has been doing this for a while with YouTube The data collection and surveillance will of course be used to support online advertising services. The ads can be delivered outside YouTube by other Alphabet business units or part…

Post by bigmadshoe » Mon, Jun 01, 2026, 2:08 PM UTC

jjulius wrote: post #432

bigmadshoe wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true. But they would at least design the app around maximizing user satisfaction with the service (to keep you paying), vs maximizing time spent on the app (i.e. through making it addictive) in order to increase ad revenue. The current incentives are perverse.

That's a nice idea, but then there are all of the times we've started paying for services to have an ad-free experience, only to then have them toss ads back into the mix.

Post by zamadatix » Mon, Jun 01, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC

skeeter2020 wrote: post #428

baggachipz wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just that, but there's no mention of removing ads or tracking. So it sounds like people get to pay for the privilege of being the product on a platform which has degraded to the point of being absolutely useless.

I can't imagine the economics would work to support anything close to what they make from the ads & tracking model. They'd probably have to charge $39.99/month from everyone to compete.