Meta will charge EU users $13 a month for an ad-free Facebook and Instagram

• Meta is offering subscription versions of Instagram and Facebook in Europe.
• Ad-free tiers cost $10 on desktop and $13 on mobile.

Meta has a new plan to navigate the European Union's tough new ad privacy rules – charge users $13 a month.

The tech giant announced Monday that users in Europe aged 18 and over can pay monthly subscription fees to use Instagram and Facebook without ads.

The monthly fee starts at €9.99 ($10.50) for a desktop Facebook or Instagram account, and rises to nearly $14 per month for accounts on mobile devices thanks to the commissions charged by Apple and Google's app stores. It's available for any user in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

The new subscription tiers, which roll out in November, are an attempt to comply with the EU's crackdown on personalized advertising.

European regulators ruled last year that Meta must give users the option to opt out of personalized ads based on their activity on their platforms.

But the plan may be open to challenge. Privacy and media experts suggest charging users to opt out of targeted ads may not be legal.

Showing ads based on user engagement is an integral part of Meta's business model, but it's one that has come under increasing pressure over the past few years.

Apple introduced the ability for users to opt out of ad-tracking in 2021, a change that Meta said would cost it $10 billion in lost revenue.

The new subscription tiers are the latest sign of how Europe's tough regulatory approach is forcing tech giants to make major changes to their businesses.

Meta was handed a $1.3 billion fine by European regulators for data privacy violations in May, and the company also delayed the launch of its Twitter competitor Threads in Europe over regulatory uncertainty.