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.
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 enshtiffication 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 - do you?)