Facebook is testing charging for sharing external links

It is important to emphasize what is really changing and what is not. It’s not about Facebook charging for “every post”, but it specifically targets posts that lead outside the Target, i.e. a link to the web, website, webshop, YouTube and the like. In this test, the limit is two such posts per month, and everything beyond that requires a subscription.

Meta Verified is their subscription which otherwise offers a verified profile label and additional support, and in this case it would also bring “more links” as part of the benefits. TechCrunch lists a starting price of $14.99 a month, while the Guardian mentions a price of at least £9.99 in the UK and tiers that can go significantly higher.

Meta claims that it is a “limited test” in which they check whether the possibility of publishing more links brings additional value to subscribers. In the same test, according to TechCrunch, publishers were not included and links in comments were not affected, which means that a link can still be placed below the post instead of in the post itself.

Why is this sensitive? Because links are a basic tool for everyone who lives on traffic, creators, small brands, associations, events and of course the media. If sharing links becomes difficult or “expensive”, some people will stop sharing links and content from the web, and this can further reduce visits to portals and other sites that depend on Facebook. Guardian već emphasizes that publishers have experienced traffic drops so far due to changes in Meta’s algorithms and content priorities.

So, if the restriction appears to you, the simplest “workaround” is to post a text or image without a link, and put the link in a comment. Another option is to use content within Meta’s platforms, for example a link to a Facebook post or Instagram content, which according to TechCrunch does not limit the test in the same way.

For now, it’s fairest to see this as a test, not a final decision. But if Meta expands the rule, it could change the habits of sharing content and further push the trend that social networks want everything to happen “inside”, without going out on the web.