Meta is rolling out the first global paid subscriptions for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp - a step the company is framing as a "priority for new users", but in practice an admission that ad revenue growth is running out. The prices: Instagram Plus and Facebook Plus at $3.99 per month, WhatsApp Plus at $2.99.

What do subscribers get? Story analytics, extended story life (24 hours longer), invisible story viewing, direct posting from the profile, custom icons and fonts for the bio. WhatsApp Plus offers custom themes for the app, ringtones and stickers. In other words - features that any comparable app already offers for free, packaged into a subscription.

The more ambitious tier is the AI plans being tested in Singapore, Guatemala and Bolivia: Meta One Plus at $7.99 and Meta One Premium at $19.99 per month, with a better model and more compute. For creators and businesses, the testing in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Thailand and Bangladesh offers a plan from $14.99 up to $49.99 - with certification, fake-profile protection, and an algorithmic boost.

Meta's point is clear: the company already has 3.5 billion users. When you cannot grow in width, you grow in depth - charge the ones already there. The question for the Balkans: how many users will pay $4 a month for more story controls? Probably few, at least until the features become a requirement rather than an add-on.