In the past few months, there has been a myriad of privacy concerns due to the revelations of Facebook user data being handed-off to firms like Cambridge Analytica without consent. The bigger concern here has been, who is responsible for the user’s data? Companies have long depended on the users ‘metadata’ to deliver relevant advertisements, in simpler terms, monetization.

Today reports have emerged that Facebook has been conducting market research to determine whether an ad-free version paid by subscriptions would spur more people to join the social network. The CEO, Mark Zuckerberg in his testimony on the Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed that the company doesn’t “offer an option today for people to pay to not show ads,” leading some to speculate that a subscription tier may be in the works. “Even though some people don’t like ads, people really don’t like ads that aren’t relevant,” he added.

The two most successful monetization models currently being used are — 1) Monetize the platform by delivering ads to the user. To increase the probability of a conversion, relevant ads to the user are always the goal. But, to deliver relevant ads, the user’s metadata needs to be stored and accessed. 2) Have a subscription model wherein the user pay a particular amount periodically to access the resources.

It is a widely acknowledged fact that when you are getting something for free on the internet, be it emailing services, news, or almost anything, you are the product. The user’s metadata is always at the core of the current Internet age and is the prime factor fueling its growth.

Now that there are millions of users out there who are rightfully concerned about their data privacy, companies seem to be focusing on creating a subscription model where no user data is stored. In order for a subscription model to work, its price must offset Facebook’s ad revenues, and TechCrunch hypothesizes that number to be at least US$ 7 per month given that Facebook earned US$19.9 billion last year from 239 million users.

One thing we should always remember is, Facebook isn’t the only one collecting user data and using to deliver ads. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and almost every tech giant does this. Hypothetically, would you be willing to pay a monthly subscription for using Google’s Services as well?

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Let us know what you think about this in the comments section below!