I am an analogue man. For me the best pictures are still taken on Kodak Chrome 64. No, it is not an ancient computer, but film material for diapositives. Its manufacturing stopped in 2009.
So, my apologizes. I do not understand a lot of social media and its business models. However, recent news made me to admire the business hunch of the social media moguls.
The European Union issued in April 2016 the General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR https://gdpr.eu/what-is-gdpr/. Governments, companies, associations and individuals acting inside EU have been struggling with the EU GDPR. No data can be disclosed without the consent of the data owner. We are safe, in theory. This does not come free. The additional cost and trouble are humongous.
Just recently the social media masterminds, with the help of EU legislators, invented that all the online advertising is subject to GDPR, too. It means, that we consumers have the right to ban online advertising while navigating through various social media. To provide the choice to watch advertising or not, new offers are now available. One can PAY a monthly fee to the social media platform owner, and he kindly will filter advertising off, and will promise not to keep records of your browsing and clicks. In addition our typing and eye movements (if the camera is on) will not be registered anymore.
Assumingly less advertising is pushed to our screens.
What a wonderful way to generate more revenue. Social media companies may say: "We are a good, global corporate citizens."
This is how it goes. Meta (Facebook and Instagram and more to come) is in process to issue in EU, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein a monthly fee of 9,99 € for online browser users and 12,99 € for mobile users. Of course, for Android and iPhone users the fee is higher since Google and Apple application shops take a franchise fee.
Neat and very profitable. I was in charge of Forum Nokia in early days of mobile application business, so I should know the game.
To make this GDPR game more appealing, from 1st March 2024 the fee is 6 € for browser users and 8 € for mobile users, BUT it applies to ALL user accounts. When you have a personal account, family group account, a hobby team account, company account, and of course one for your dog or cat, the monthly fee can be multiple times 8 €! Sounds like printing money.
Blocking advertising against a fee is an old invention. When I started to visit Japan in mid 1980s, cable tv-companies had an ad-block service. When you paid a monthly fee, your tv-adapter blocked the ads! Idea is simple and used today, but the process is smarter.
What to do? Should we keep watching advertisement or not? Advertising makes your 90 minutes free online movie to last 2 hours. Time is certainly money today.
Your choice.
This column was written without help of any AI tools. Thought, ideas (if any) and errors in writing are solely author´s own.
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