Pay or be tracked – Big changes coming to Yahoo in the UK
Key Points
- Yahoo will charge UK users £2.15 monthly to avoid personalised ads.
- Users must consent to targeted ads or pay from 28 January 2027.
- Paying subscribers might still see other forms of advertising on Yahoo.
- Users who reject the terms can move their Yahoo Mailbox data elsewhere.
- Meta charges UK users £2.99 monthly for ad-free Facebook and Instagram.
Yahoo will charge UK users £2.15 a month to use most of its services without personalised advertising from 28 January 2027.
The company announced the change in an email to members this week, telling them they will need to choose how they want to continue using its services from that date.
Users who want to keep using Yahoo for free must consent to personalised advertising, which uses their personal data to target the ads they see. The alternative is Yahoo’s new “Yahoo without personalised ads” subscription, which costs £2.15 per month.
Yahoo warned that subscribers might still see other forms of advertising, meaning the fee removes targeted ads rather than all ads.
Yahoo services will keep working as they do today until 28 January 2027, unless users choose one of the options before then.
The company has also updated its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and the new terms will apply once a user picks an option.
Yahoo said users who agree to the updated terms can simply continue using its services as normal. Users who reject the new terms can end their agreement with Yahoo through its Help Centre. Yahoo said it offers free tools to help these users move their Yahoo Mailbox data to another email provider.
Users who want to exercise their privacy rights can do so through Yahoo’s Privacy Dashboard, the company added.
Yahoo follows Meta’s lead
Yahoo’s move mirrors the “pay or consent” model Meta introduced for Facebook and Instagram in the UK in September 2025.
Meta charges UK users £2.99 per month on the web and £3.99 per month through its iOS and Android apps to stop seeing ads.
Meta said it introduced the subscription in response to UK regulatory guidance and following extensive engagement with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The ICO said at the time that the subscription option would allow Meta to comply with UK law. Yahoo’s £2.15 monthly fee comes in 84p cheaper than Meta’s web subscription price.
