Tag Archives: fee

Meta Introduces £3.99 Monthly Fee for Ad-Free Experience on Facebook and Instagram for UK Users

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Users in the UK can access an ad-free experience on Facebook and Instagram for a monthly fee of £3.99.

In response to regulatory concerns regarding personalized ads that utilize user data for targeted marketing, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has introduced this subscription service.

Web users will pay £2.99 per month, while mobile users can enjoy ad-free scrolling for £3.99 monthly. If accounts are linked, users will only be charged one fee.

“This gives individuals in the UK the option of continuing to use Facebook and Instagram for free with personalized ads or choosing to avoid ads altogether,” Meta stated.

The company announced that the new service would be available in the upcoming weeks. Users without a subscription will continue to see ads based on their personal data.

This subscription model mirrors offerings by Meta in the EU, which the European Commission has deemed a violation of the Digital Markets Act aimed at regulating major tech companies.

The Commission recommended a €200 million fine this year and suggested releasing a free version of the platform that relies on less detailed personal information such as gender, age, and location for ad targeting.

The UK’s intelligence committee, a data oversight authority, expressed its support for this initiative.

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“This transition moves Meta away from using targeted ad practices as a condition of Facebook and Instagram service usage, clarifying compliance with UK law,” a spokesperson from the ICO stated.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Code.org, a nonprofit organization, files a lawsuit against WhiteHat Jr, Byju’s organization, over disputed membership fee payments

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US education nonprofit Code.org has filed a lawsuit in California District Court, alleging that WhiteHat Jr, a subsidiary of Byju, violated its licensing agreement by continuing to use Code.org’s platform without paying fees.

WhiteHat Jr, which was sold to Byju’s in 2020 for $300 million, partnered with Code.org last year, agreeing to pay $4 million over four years to license Code.org’s coding education platform. However, in a lawsuit filed earlier this month, Code.org alleges that WhiteHat Jr. failed to adhere to its payment schedule while continuing to utilize its coding courseware.

According to the Code.org complaint, WhiteHat Jr paid the 2022 license fee, but notified the nonprofit earlier this year that it would not be able to make the remaining payments scheduled in the four-year contract. Code.org claims that WhiteHat Jr requested that his original contract be amended to backload unpaid license fee obligations. But Code.org’s lawyers argue that the original contract makes clear that termination does not relieve WhiteHat Jr. of its obligation to pay all future license fees. There is.

“To date, White Hat has not paid either its Q1 2023 invoice or its Q2 2023 invoice. In fact, despite repeated written and verbal requests for payment by Code.org, , WhiteHat has not made any payments in excess of the $1 million it paid pursuant to the 2022 invoice before the agreement was amended,” Code.org’s lawyers claim.

Byju’s did not respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit is the latest trouble for Byju stemming from its acquisition of WhiteHat Jr, and adds to existing problems the company has faced since the acquisition. The Indian edtech giant, which was valued at $22 billion in a funding round in early 2022, was considering whether to wind down WhiteHat Jr earlier this year, TechCrunch reported.

This also makes Byju’s predicament even worse. Byju’s is facing a difficult situation due to prolonged delays in financial reporting and governance issues. Byju’s leading backer, Prosus, recently reduced the startup’s valuation to less than his $3 billion.

Source: techcrunch.com