Meta plans to introduce a new ad option it calls "contextual ads" after facing pressure from European Union regulators to offer a free version of its apps featuring less personalized advertisements, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The new ad option will feature advertisements based only on the content based on the current browsing session along with the user's age, gender, and location. The sources noted that the new ads will cover the entire screen and be unskippable for the first few seconds. This decision comes after the company's long resistance to the "no-fee" way of avoiding having the user's data harvested and used for targeted ads, which is the company's main source of revenue.
Meta stated that the new ads "go beyond what's required by EU law" though it expects the new policy will have a negative impact on its business as well as small businesses across Europe.
