Meta Trials Charging Users for Sharing Links, Possibly Striking a Hard Blow to Publishers
Meta, the company behind Facebook, is running a small-scale trial where profiles without a Meta Verified account could be restricted to sharing only two external web links per month.
Details of the Test
This pilot program currently involves a subset of Facebook pages operating in Professional Mode, which is typically utilized by content creators to monetize their posts. While news organizations are not part of this test, the broader impact could prove substantial.
"Beginning 16 December, certain Facebook profiles without Meta Verified will be restricted to posting two free posts per month."
A History of Retreat
This move follows Meta's multi-year deliberately retreating from hosting news content. Industry analysts point out that after withdrawing from publisher payments and blocking news links in Canada, Meta has signaled strongly that news is no longer strategic.
Publishers already experienced a massive drop in online traffic following a 2023 decision to de-prioritise news in favor of more videos and viral content. While traffic had been recovering in 2024, it remained down by approximately half compared to the previous year.
The Push for Subscriptions
The new test is understood to be a wider effort to persuade people to sign up for Meta Verified. This subscription service ranges in price from £9.99 to nearly £400 monthly and offers extra features like a verified badge and enhanced security.
- Meta's spokesperson stated: "This is a limited test to see if the ability to publish an increased volume of posts with links provides extra benefit for paying users."
- Analysts theorize this move to charge for reach may be linked to Meta's expensive ventures in other areas, like the virtual reality and AI.
A Potential Silver Lining?
It is worth noting that earlier in the year, Meta stated it would take towards a more personalized approach for news and politics. Later reports indicated this may have led to increased publisher content showing up again for some users.
As one instance, visitors referred by Facebook to certain newspaper websites was said to increase significantly in the early months of this year.
Ultimately, this trial underscores the ongoing tension between social media platforms seeking new revenue streams and news organizations that depend upon them for readers and visibility.
