The Tech Company News Brief: Is This the End of Facebook Ads?

Facebook, its parent Meta, and sister company Instagram were in a whole lot of news this past week, ranging from regulatory developments to stories about new features the social media platforms are rolling out.

For users creeped out by the idea of receiving personalized ads (or even ads at all!) while browsing through Instagram and Facebook, Meta is now offering an ad-free experience.. For a cost. And only if you're in the EU.

I mean, of course Meta wants to be able to track everything it can about you, but because of strict privacy laws in the EU, the company is now forced to give an option to users in the region to opt out. The price for doing so? Up to a cool $20 per month to do so.

That's a steep cost for an ad-free experience, and it almost sounds like Meta is keeping the price up just so less people opt for it. Still, paying to turn ads off isn't something new, with Alphabet's YouTube or others like Spotify offering similar functionality for a price. So it's either really annoying ads (and I mean, REALLY annoying) or paying a price to turn them off.

The state of the internet: I hate it.

Whether the company will roll out an "ad-free" social media experience in other parts of the world is yet to be seen, but while it makes a decision on that front, Meta is already making it easier to buy more stuff from its apps, especially considering that Christmas and Black Friday are right around the corner.

A new feature on Facebook and Instagram now lets users link their accounts to Amazon and purchase goods from ads directly within the app: all without switching apps or going through multiple windows. How's that for convenience?

And if that wasn't enough, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg's obsession with virtual reality still isn't over, with the Wall Street Journal reporting a deal between the company and China's Tencent Holdings to sell a new, low-cost virtual reality headset in the country starting next year. Maybe that will finally justify the billions the company has burned on bringing Zuckerberg's vision into a reality.

Meanwhile, Meta is taking a hard stance on the use of AI come election time in 2024. With Donald Trump the clear Republican nominee and Joe Biden contesting for the White House from the Democrats' side, Meta launched policies dictating the extent to which political parties could alter or create political, social or election related advertisements on Facebook and Instagram using tools such as generative AI.

Facebook ranked #1 on HackerNoon's Tech Company Rankings this week. Instagram was on the #15 spot, while parent company Meta was at #37.

In Other News.. 📰

• Threads users can keep their posts off Instagram and Facebook now — via The Verge.
• Microsoft, Google will not challenge EU gatekeeper status — via Reuters.
• Nepal joins a growing list of countries banning TikTok — via TechCrunch.
• Apple’s ‘scary fast’ upgrades hint at its vision for the AI era — via CNN.
• YouTube to require creators to disclose use of generative AI — via Axios.
• Nvidia unveils H200, its newest high-end chip for training AI models — via CNBC.

And that's a wrap! Don't forget to share this newsletter with your family and friends! See y'all next week. PEACE! ☮️

— Sheharyar Khan, Editor, Business Tech @ HackerNoon

*All rankings are current as of Monday. To see how the rankings have changed, please visit HackerNoon's Tech Company Rankings page.