Meta Platforms said yesterday it will offer users in Europe a subscription plan to use Facebook and Instagram without advertisements to comply with the European Union regulations.

The monthly subscription plans for users in the EU, European Economic Area and Switzerland, will cost 9.99 euros ($10.58) for web users, while iOS and Android users will have to shell out 12.99 euros a month.

The EU regulations threaten to curb Meta’s ability to personalize ads for users without their consent and hurt its major revenue source, a Reuters report yesterday said.

The world’s most popular social media network has been under antitrust pressure in the EU. In July, it lost its fight against a German data curb order as Europe’s top court backed the German antitrust watchdog’s power to also investigate privacy breaches.

Offering a choice between a free, ad-supported plan and an ad-free paid subscription might lead to users opting for the former, helping Meta to comply with the regulations without affecting its ad business.

Meta was fined 390 million euros earlier this year by Ireland’s Data Privacy Commissioner, and was told it cannot use the so-called “contract” as a legal basis to send users ads based on their online activity.

The company later said it intended to ask users in the EU for their consent before allowing businesses to target ads in order to address evolving regulatory requirements in the region.

Meanwhile, last week doing an analysis of the ad market rebound, reflected in strong showing by Big Tech, a Reuters report stated that Meta, which said its ads viewed in the last quarter increased by 31 percent from a year earlier, indicated plans to invest heavily in AI next year.

The company’s average price per ad decreased by 6 percent, but the pace of the fall was the slowest in seven quarters.

The Facebook and Instagram owner has leaned heavily on AI-powered marketing planning and ad measurement features in recent years to drive its growth, prompted by privacy changes led by Apple that crimped its ability to use personal data to target ads.

It is now rolling out tools that use generative AI to create different variations of ad campaigns, the Reuters report added.