Why don't social media apps allow users to pay to remove ads?
The number of ads on Instagram is insane, and I would happily pay (more than they make off me as a user with ads) to get rid of them and yet I don't see an option to do so. Why not?
If you “happily pay” that means you have money to spend on things that are not bare necessities. This makes you a very valuable advertising target. If Instagram eliminates people like you from ad audience (by allowing you to bypass ads), then their platform will become less valuable for advertisers. After all the only people remaining that have to see the ads would be the ones that do not have money.
Willingness to pay to not see ads is an indicator of higher advertising value.
As a result the amount an advertiser will pay to show you ads is higher than you’re willing to pay to not see them.
You get money from advertisers, you put more ads, simple. The ads are there because users do not pay, so it's unlikely they will suddenly start, and one exception doesn't change that.
the overhead of dealing with users put the price you'd have to pay beyond the value many think the service delivers.
the fisherman doesn't care if the chum tastes good or not, only that it gathers the catch.
It's not a profitable endeavor. The idea is not new yet no service has the option. I suspect that a group has been assigned the task of selling a no adds account and they concluded that it's not worth the trouble. Generally speaking paying for social media apps has not been a success. Look a pre-musk twitter they had a pay option but it did not make the profitable.
People complain about privacy on social media yet when it comes down to paying for privacy few people pay. Free is always better.
Because advertising and advertisers corrupt the media they support.