«Al Jazeera» – Agencies:
A new internal memo obtained by The Verge revealed that Meta is working on creating “potential paid features” for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The new section represents Meta’s first serious attempt to build paid features across its main social apps, which all have billions of users.
The decision comes after Meta’s ad business was hit hard by Apple’s ad tracking changes on iOS, and a broader decline in digital ad spending.
In an interview with The Verge, Meta’s vice president of monetization, John Hegeman, said the company remains committed to growing its ad business, and has no plans yet to require users to pay to turn off ads in its apps. “I think we see opportunities to build new kinds of products, features and experiences that people will be willing to pay for, and excited to pay for,” he added, declining to go into detail about the paid features being considered.
Meta’s earnings come almost entirely from , and while it already has many paid features across its apps, the social media giant hasn’t made charging users a priority yet.
Facebook group admins can already charge for access to exclusive content, and virtual “stars” can be purchased to send to creators.
WhatsApp is charging some companies for the ability to send messages to their customers, and Instagram recently announced that creators can also start charging subscription fees to access exclusive content.