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Picture-sharing platform Snapchat has announced a new paid subscription system for storage exceeding over 5GB. Should big tech companies be allowed to charge for services that were once free?
Snapchat, the image-sharing service mostly used by Gen Zers, will begin charging users for any storage exceeding 5GB.
This includes all photos and videos that are part of the app’s ‘Memories’ feature, where content previously posted is archived and saved. Users have been able to post images to their followers via Snapchat Stories since 2016, meaning that many people have nearly nine years’ worth of content stored on their account.
In the US, prices start at $1.99 USD per month for 100GB of extra storage. A ‘Snapchat+’ subscription includes 250GB of storage for $3.99 USD and features additional perks. A ‘Snapchat Platinum’ plan offers 5TB of storage for $15.99 USD.
@lxrxxna WHY SNAPCHAT WHYYYYY😫🤬 wdym i have to pay to keep my memories from years ago? without my memories i am nothing😔 pls take away this update. #snapchatupdate #snapchatstorage #snapchat #fyp
There will be a 12-month grace period where customers can decide whether they want to jump on board or move their photos off the app. After this window closes, all users must pay for extra storage.
The news follows on from Meta’s announcement that it will launch a paid subscription service to block ads on Facebook and Instagram. Starting at £2.99 a month, users can completely filter out sponsored content from their feeds.
The reaction to these new paid services has been unsurprisingly angry.
Taking away a system that was once free and placing it behind a paywall was never going to be a popular decision. As The Independent puts it, the ‘era of free internet [use] is over’ and it’s likely that an increasing number of services and platforms will begin demanding a monthly fee.
As servers require more data, more space, and more resources to cope with growing demand, companies are struggling to sufficiently monetise themselves on ad revenue alone. We’re also living in the age of AI-generated content and misinformation, which means that consumer trust regarding the intrinsic value of the internet is at an all time low.
With all this in mind, should Snapchat and Meta be allowed to start charging consumers for features that were once free? Is it ethically dubious to initially pull users in with the promise of convenience and later cash that goodwill in to make a profit?
@milesabovetech At this point everything is a subscription… #milesabovetech #snapchat #techtok #tachgadgets #iphone
How is Snapchat justifying the new charge?
In a PR statement on its official website, Snapchat says it is introducing the charge to ‘further improve’ the Memories feature. It doesn’t go into any particular detail nor does it outline how exactly things will change moving forward.
Interestingly, it does at least acknowledge the pushback that introducing a premium subscription will invoke. ‘It’s never easy to transition from receiving a service for free to paying for it,’ the statement reads. ‘But we hope the value we provide is worth the cost.’
It seems the main justification for the new pricing system is simply that Snapchat has gotten too big to maintain itself without additional investment. With billions of photos stored on its servers, the company needs to exponentially expand its resources to be operational.
The company also claims that the vast majority of its users do not exceed 5GB of storage and won’t be affected by the price hikes. Most casual users probably don’t have that many photos archived, which means the storage costs will affect influencers, brands, and corporations more than your average Gen Zer.
It also says that the 12-month grace period is an adequate amount of time for those affected to make a decision as to where they want to store their photos. Nothing will be charged to users without warning and nobody will have an invoice thrown at them out of the blue.
