The potential move - which has been used by news publications, such as the Daily Mirror - would give people the option to browse on its social media platforms without having their data tracked.

A spokesperson for Meta said: "We are exploring the option of offering people based in the UK a subscription and will share further information in due course."

Meta offers an ad-free subscription for Facebook and Instagram users in the European Union, which starts from €5.99 a month.

As well as looking at an option to roll it out to the UK, Meta is "engaging constructively" with the Information Commissioner's Office, the country's data watchdog, about the service.

It comes after the company - which is owned by its chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg - agreed to stop targeting ads to Tanya O’Carroll, a human rights campaigner, last week following a privacy case that was settled on March 21.

Tanya - who began a lawsuit against the company in 2022 after alleging Meta breached UK data laws after Facebook did not follow her wishes for it to stop collecting and processing her data to target appropriate adverts - is quoted by The Guardian as saying: "The key factor is the UK data protection authority, which backed my case and has publicly stated that it will support people in the UK who wish to exercise their right to object to online targeted ads.

"I think that beyond the life of this case, the writing is on the wall for Meta – people want a choice on surveillance ads, and the right to object gives them exactly that."

Meta “fundamentally” disagreed with her claims, and it insisted it took the UK's privacy law GDPR's rules very seriously.