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Meta's latest subscription move is an attempt to offset its AI bets (appleinsider.com)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by tonytins@pawb.social to c/technology@lemmy.world
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On January 26, Meta announced that it was going to test premium subscriptions across its apps. The subscriptions will offer exclusive features and expanded AI tools, while ad-supported versions remain free.

Under the test, users are presented with a clear choice between two paths. People can subscribe to use Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp without ads, or continue using the services for free while agreeing to ongoing data use for advertising purposes.

Meta claims the subscriptions will "unlock productivity, creativity, and AI-powered features," with each app receiving its own set of paid tools rather than a single bundled plan. The company isn't committing to one configuration and plans in order to experiment with different feature sets and pricing models over time.

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[-] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

users are presented with a clear choice between two paths

There is a third path. Just stop being a user. Maybe that choice isn't clear enough. Push notifications are fucking evil. I removed the app and use FB as a PWA about once every six months. I might use it more if it had content from my friends or anyone I gave a fuck about, but instead it's all promotions and suggestions.

Without the little red number creating FOMO on my phone, I have no impulse to check it. Yet I check Lemmy several times a day. I check Bluesky every couple of days. Because every time I open them, someone I want to hear from is posting something I want to see. You should try that, Zuck.

[-] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 months ago

I haven't touched a facebook product in almost 15 years and my life has been nothing but better for it.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Shit yeah that's about how long for me. Gods, I remember talking about how cool and futuristic Facebook was back in like 08, but in my defense I was a middle schooler. I rapidly saw it morph into a hub of unpleasantness and bailed.

[-] bluGill@fedia.io 0 points 3 months ago

There are a few things facebook is better at than anything in my life - checking up on distant friends that I wouldn't call normally but I want to know the big events in their life; ensuring my parent see pictures of my kids (we don't live in the same state). However those things only need a couple minutes of my time per day, and that isn't enough to make them a big company and so they keep shoving garbage that doesn't make my life better in my face. That garbage takes up hours per day of many people's time and is worth a lot to facebook.

[-] ptu@sopuli.xyz 1 points 3 months ago

For most of our history, we couldn’t check on how distant friends were doing. Except through gossip I guess. Today we can be connected for decades with people we never interact with irl. I wonder if it takes a toll mentally to be attached to so many people for so long.

[-] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 2 points 3 months ago

Guarantee that your data still gets used to feed you ads with the "premium" subscription.

[-] cybernihongo@reddthat.com 2 points 3 months ago

A premium tier for WhatsApp? The app I want to get rid of but can't because employers can't be assed to send emails or make phone calls first?

[-] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 months ago

What kind of shitass employer would require the use of WhatsApp? Do they make you use TikTok to clock in?

[-] YaksDC@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

A huge portion of Europe runs on WhatsApp. And many places use it as their primary communication for customers.

[-] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 months ago

Well I blame them for making a terrible decision there. Europe does a lot of things right, this is not one of them.

[-] YaksDC@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 months ago

Agreed.

[-] restingboredface@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 months ago

It's everywhere. Been looking at moving to Latin America (Uruguay or Panama specifically) and many businesses there don't even have/publish regular phone numbers. The tour companies I traveled with said you can't get anything done without whatsapp.

[-] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 months ago

Man, that would be a showstopper for me. I wish they would wake up

[-] ellen.kimble@piefed.social 1 points 3 months ago

That’s how it is in Belize and Guatemala too

[-] DerdWurst@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

These bastards got market place on lock. Luckily with graphene I sand box the tracking apps in another profile(for now). Fucken sucks though. Work/family use what's app as well. We need alternatives, but most people just dont care or think about it.

[-] jjlinux@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 months ago

My family still uses WhatsApp all of them, except my kids (I never allowed them and I have very tight control of their devices). After a few months of not being able to send me memes and shit, they started installing Signal one after the other. Long story short, the family group is now on signal.

[-] 9point6@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I hit this today when I went to check a local restaurant's Instagram for the menu (like many I've come across, they treat Instagram as their website)

Nope. I guess that information is now all gone to me

Between this and Twitter I'm pretty annoyed at how much harder it is to get local information without just physically going to a place compared to 5 years ago. I'm not gonna pretend it used to be perfect, but this is getting spectacularly shitty

[-] PushButton@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Meta claims the subscriptions will "unlock productivity

Productivity... on Facebook? God they are desperately need to sell you something here.

[-] eronth@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

How long until the premium version also has ads? It's the clear trend at this point.

[-] rainwall@piefed.social 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Yup, its predictable. "No ads for money," then "no ads for money and light ads for free" then "no ads for lots of money, light ads for money, unbearbale ads for free" is literally always the model these fuckwits push too now.

[-] ok_effect@feddit.dk 1 points 3 months ago

Do people still use Meta’s products?

[-] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 months ago

Instagram and WhatsApp... So hard to get people to stop. Particularly where smaller countries and people who travel are, where WhatsApp is the default phone.

So shitty.

[-] ok_effect@feddit.dk 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

If anyone wants to talk to me, they’ll have to use one of the myriad ways to keep in touch that don’t involve Meta. I refuse to continue to be their product and help them keep the idea alive that they should somehow be unavoidable. Meta relies entirely on the relational networks of people, so I removed my node from their system and made their product a little worse for anybody interested in engaging with me. Life is better without Meta dopamin/rage addiction anyway.

[-] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 months ago

Sure, I won't use anything meta.

But it can be hard like I said. You want to make an appointment with a doctor, an electrician, flower delivery? They want your WhatsApp. You can't make an appointment without it. They can't fill out their billing system. They won't call you on your phone because your number is long distance.

Everyone just expects WhatsApp. Makes it hard.

[-] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago

As an American the thought of your doctor requiring WhatsApp to communicate with you is just a foreign concept lol

[-] turdburglar@piefed.social 1 points 3 months ago

sure but first, as an american, you have to make sure the doctor in question is ‘in network’

[-] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

None of our doctors, in network or otherwise force us to Zuck’s apps lol.

[-] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 months ago

Imagine if every state had a different cell phone carrier or go back even further to when it was long distance even just blocks or cities over. Now imagine a technology comes in that doesn't care what carrier you are on, or if it's long distance.

That is kind of what happened to countries. Especially if you have people who work in one and live in another or have clients in another.

So even though now maybe it isn't long distance, or carriers talk to each other, everyone is used to the way they have been doing it for free.

[-] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 months ago

I know I would be more creative if I handed Zuck my money monthly. No doubt about it.

[-] FreddiesLantern@leminal.space 0 points 3 months ago

Keep it up asshole, keep pissing people off.

[-] xcjs@programming.dev -1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Honestly, if this reduces user-hostile UI changes for paid accounts, and I can get a chronological feed of just friend activity with original content, I'd pay it at this point.

(I know there is supposed to be a friends-only feed now, but it's not even close to being friends-only still.)

It's a big if, and I don't think it will be what I want, but I'm just putting it out there that I would pay if the experience is valuable enough.

[-] deltaspawn0040@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 months ago

Seriously? You're gonna pay money to this guy?

[-] xcjs@programming.dev -1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I mean, do I want to give money to a billionaire? Not exactly.

On the other hand, if we don't start supporting premium software services and open source projects, the enshitiffication trend will get worse.

(I know Facebook isn't open source, but I've seen enough open source projects abandoned or enshittified due to lack of support from users.)

I have to choose among my principles, and I'm strongly against user-hostile UI/UX paradigms, enshittification, and other downward quality trends in software/services.

I pay to support my Lemmy instance, for example.

[-] Foofighter@discuss.tchncs.de -1 points 3 months ago

So, all the bots are supposed to pay or watch add's? That's insane!

this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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