The ads will apply to those who opt for ‘low data’ non-personalised ads and will last for a few seconds

Facebook and Instagram are to introduce unskippable ads.

The move will apply to those who opt for non-personalised ads.

The unskippable ads will play “for a few seconds” and won’t be avoidable, the company says.

“Such ad breaks are common across other services and are already offered by many of our competitors,” parent group Meta said in a statement today.

“This change will help us continue to provide value to advertisers which ensures we can offer people a less personalised ads experience at no charge.”

The company announced that regular, free users will now be able to choose to see less personalised ads than normally seen from web browsing, searches and other online activity.

And it says that both Facebook and Instagram will reduce the price of their ‘no ads’ options by 40pc, from €10 to €6 on the web and from €13 to €8 on iOS and Android.

While Meta has not given out numbers on how many people choose to use Facebook and Instagram without ads for a fee, the percentage is understood to be tiny and bears little effect on the company’s financial bottom line.

Last month, Meta reported a 19pc increase in revenues from its normal cash streams, dominated by online advertising.

“The changes we’re announcing today meet EU regulator demands and go beyond what’s required by EU law. And we remain steadfast in our view that personalised ads are the best experience for people and businesses – and because people understand that value, we expect that most people will choose our personalised ads service even with these expanded options.”

On the ‘low data’ move, Meta said that is would introduce the measure soon.

“We will inform people based in the EU using Facebook and Instagram with ads about this new option to see less personalised ads when we again ask them whether they wish to subscribe or continue to use our products for free with ads,” the company said.

“The notification will be dismissible for a while before it becomes non-dismissible. This choice can be made or revisited at any time in a person’s ad settings alongside our existing range of tools and controls that give people choice over how their data is used for ads.”

Reporting on:independent.ie