TikTok launches £3.99 monthly subscription for UK users who want an ad-free experience

TikTok is launching a paid subscription option in the United Kingdom, allowing users to pay £3.99 per month to access the platform without advertisements.

Starting Monday, TikTok began notifying UK users aged 18 and older about its new Ad-Free option through in-app pop-up notifications. The rollout will occur gradually over the next few months. However, the company has not yet specified when users will need to decide whether to pay for this ad-free experience or continue using the app for free.

Subscribers who pay the monthly fee will not see ads on TikTok, including in the For You feed. However, they will still see posts from creators who are paid or sponsored to promote products, marked with “#ad.” These sponsored posts are not part of the app’s ad system and will still be visible to everyone, regardless of their subscription status.

Users who choose not to subscribe to TikTok will still see personalised ads. Currently, UK users can opt out of these ads for free, but this option will be removed under the new model. In the future, avoiding personalised ads will require a paid subscription.

Kris Boger, TikTok’s UK Managing Director, framed the move as giving users more flexibility. “Our new ad-free option gives people greater control over their experience,” he said, adding that advertising on the platform was already supporting thousands of British businesses.

TikTok joins other platforms adopting a similar method

TikTok is not the first platform to go down this road. Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat have all introduced similar subscription tiers in recent years, allowing users to pay a monthly fee to reduce or eliminate the ads they see. TikTok itself tested ad-free subscriptions in select global markets in 2023 before expanding the model.

Social media analyst Matt Navarra described the shift as part of a broader industry move away from the original bargain of the internet.

“We’re moving away from an internet where the deal was you use the app for free but see ads, to one where the deal is increasingly: use the app for free and be profiled for personalised ads, or pay to escape them,” he told the BBC.

Navarra warned that the model is creating a split online experience.

“We are heading towards a two-tiered social internet, one version for people who can afford more control and privacy, and another version for everybody else.”

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With most users unlikely to pay the subscription fee, he noted, the practice of charging for privacy is quietly becoming normalised across the industry.

The “consent or pay” model is how platforms are adapting to users who don’t want to be tracked for personalised ads. Companies use this approach to follow data privacy rules and still make money from users who value their privacy.