Meta is about to roll out ad-free subscriptions on Instagram and Facebook. But critics say privacy should not be turned into a luxury.
Ad free Facebook and Instagram is officially on. I'm trying to stay open minded but honestly it's too expensive especially with this sneaky account center rule unless you're in an unfortunate position where you need to spend a lot of time on these platforms.
Yeah the headline is dead wrong. Privacy ≠ ad free.
That said, paying for a service is the one solution to getting rid of ads that I can see working in general. In general I don’t see this as a bad thing.
Absolutely, the $10/month is just to disable ads, like if you are running a free uBlock. Meta will still collect all your data from every cookies/sites and sell all your info to 3rd party for $$$.
Same here. I read about FB in some tech magazine, and thought something along the lines of: “You always use a nickname when interacting with people in online forums, because that’s just normal internet etiquette. Why would anyone want to share their real name and face on the internet?”
Oh, boy was I in for a surprise when a few years later everyone and even their pets had FB accounts.
Problem is they still track and profile you via websites using their libs and people sharing their contact list. I don't believe they'd stop even for those paying accounts.
I definitely will agree with you there but why on earth would anyone pay these assholes to pretend that they would give you some privacy?
The irony is they mine us for our private data, track us, sell it, then have the gall to demand to charge us back for use of their services.
That’s why I get so pissed when this comes up or when adblocking on any other service rears its head (looking at you YouTube).
People are quick to forget that these services are following you everywhere you go. Looking through your contacts. Reading your mail. Delving into every nook and cranny of your private life and selling it all.
Instead of giving them a dime, invest in a VPN, a good Adblocker and other resources.
Paying only stops them from showing ads, which can also be solved by not using the platform. Paying does absolutely nothing to stop them from collecting and sharing data about you.
Hopefully large social networks have not metastasized enough to prevent their death with this. I hope that they also decide to bully through this bullshit onto WhatsApp, which is heavily used throughout the EU, thus ensuring their death is even quicker. They've tried to copy Google Premium, but Google gives you the option to disable personalized data collections and ad serving.
I'd posit that you get even more protections by aggressively blocking all 3rd party tracking and cookies via ad-blocks because you're not a datapoint in Facebook as "someone who would give money to facebook."
Everyone should be using the Facebook addon "Facebook Purity" if they are still using the platform. I've been using it for over a decade and I can't stand using Facebook without it…
Not only does it work better than most adblocks, but you can completely move, remove, and restyle features.
It's the only way of working with that platform is not harmful to one's sanity.