Facebook and Instagram users in Europe are getting the option to pay for ad-free versions of the social media platforms as a way to comply with the continent's strict data privacy rules, parent company Meta said Monday.
Starting in November, users on desktop browsers can pay about 10 euros ($10.50) a month while iOS or Android users will pay roughly 13 euros. The higher prices reflect commissions charged by the Apple and Google app stores on in-app payments, the company said in a blog post.
The fee will cover all linked Facebook and Instagram accounts until March, when Meta will start charging 6 euros for each additional account. The Wall Street Journal reported on the plan earlier this month.
The U.S. tech giant is rolling out the subscription option after the European Union's top court ruled that under strict EU data privacy rules, Meta must first get consent before showing ads to users. The ruling jeopardizes the company's ability to make money by tailoring advertisements for individual users based on their online interests and digital activity.
The company said while it believes in an "ad-supported internet," it respects "the spirit and purpose of these evolving European regulations," and is committed to complying with them.
The paid option "balances the requirements of European regulators while giving users choice and allowing Meta to continue serving all people," Meta said.
Users aged 18 and older in the EU's 27 member countries, plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein will still have the choice of continuing to use Facebook or Instagram with ads.
Meta said it's looking into how how to "provide teens with a useful and responsible ad experience" given the Europan privacy ruling.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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