Here’s a question: Is the entertainment value provided by X, formerly known as Twitter, equal to what Netflix offers? Elon Musk wants to charge people roughly the same for an ad-free version of X that they pay for Netflix’s cheapest ad-free tier, around $16 a month. It’s part of his effort to supplement X’s much-diminished ad revenue with subscriptions. While Musk has so far made little progress in that effort—a lower-priced X subscription tier hasn’t gained many customers, according to outside measurements—it’s a worthy initiative in at least one respect. It could prompt X users to think through just how much they value the service and how much they care about ads.
Increasingly, users of other social media apps may be pondering the same question. Meta Platforms, for instance, said Monday that in response to European regulatory pressure, it would charge as much as 13 euros a month for ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram. (TikTok is testing the same idea.) To be sure, Meta will keep its existing free ad-supported services available. How consumers respond to Meta’s initiative will be a test of whether the European Commission’s privacy policies resonate with ordinary people. If most users stick with the free version, that would suggest people are willing to accept ad targeting in exchange for free content.
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