Facebook considered ad-free subscriptions after the Cambridge Analytica scandal
1 min read
Summary
Former COO Sheryl Sandberg revealed in testimony during FTC’s case against Meta, that the company’s board of directors had considered offering an ad-free Facebook subscription as a response to the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
realisation that Meta’s “free” services were paid for by user data, and that there was a lot of it, prompted the idea of changing the narrative by allowing users to pay more for privacy.
Instead of this, plans were outlined to reduce the amount of data available to outside developers.
In November 2023, Meta launched an ad-free subscription option, but only for the EU, and despite a 40% price cut last year, the pay-or-consent model has continued to draw criticism from regulators over how it has been implemented.
The revelations have led to more questions about Meta’s handling of user data.