From the day of launch until now Facebook and Instagram can be used for free. But we now know that usually free comes with a hidden cost and in the case of these two platforms personal data is traded for advertising. WhatsApp used to be paid before it was also offered "free" since 2016.
According to a report by The Verge, Meta, which holds all three of these major social media platforms, is developing a paid service after a New Monetization Experiences team was established within the company. The team will find ways to offer interesting features in Meta products that will attract users to subscribe.
The move to offer paid subscriptions to Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp will come as Meta's advertising revenue has been hit hard since the introduction of the ATT feature by Apple. Google will also introduce the same feature on Android in the near future, so Meta needs to find a new source of income before it's too late.
Other social media platforms such as Snap, Telegram and Twitter already offer paid subscription services to their users. It is clear here that the era of free services will end up being replaced by an era where everything is paid for the sake of personal data privacy.