Facebook is testing a system that charges users for sharing web links, in a move that could prove to be a further blow to news outlets and other publishers.
Meta, the social media platform’s owner, said it is carrying out a “limited test” in which those without a paid Meta Verified subscription, costing at least £9.99 a month, can only post two external links a month.
The test appears to involve a subset of Facebook pages and user profiles on Professional Mode, which includes features used by content creators to monetise their posts.
News organisations are not included in the test. However, the move could hit newsrooms and other media publishers as it may stop their users from sharing their content.
The latest trial is part of a campaign to find ways of encouraging Facebook users to sign up to Meta Verified, which costs from £9.99 up to almost £400 per month per profile depending on the tier. It offers extra account features and security.
More like a potential blow for Facebook. They don’t have the monopolistic position they used to have 10 years ago anymore
Facebook content is already posted mostly by bots. I guess question is if those bot owners are willing to pay up ans then FB could cash in a bit on all the AI shite, Russian disinformation, scams, etc.
thats reddit’s future too, they are more less becoming a clone eventually
It boggles my fucking mind that anyone still uses Meta platforms. They sound like such a trash heap now. Is it a mixture of low expectations and and unwillingness to adopt something new?
“Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”
I’ve always loved this quote
They’re struggling; kids/teens want no part of them. While they’re still ok with being an adult platform, their base will continue to decay. That’s why they’re pushing for threads, but their brand is just too poisoned.
It’s literally just the network effect. At this point most of the user base probably has an account to keep track of birthdays, organise occasional social events, sell shit on marketplace, etc. That’s why they bought Instagram. FB was rendered irrelevant through enshittification.
As with messaging, if all of the big tech cartels were forced to implement an open source protocol that enabled users with data portability and interoperability, then the platforms would have to directly compete, and their value would drop 100x. Their only value is the closed network and holding user data hostage.
At this point most of the user base probably has an account
My HOA, My kids school, The PTA, anywhere adults need to have chatter. However, the next generation of adults is actively eschewing the service.
Could be interesting.
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I don’t use Facebook and I miss out on a lot. Party invitations are there, school events are there, and Craigslist has been completely supplanted by Marketplace
The problem with Craig’s list is it’s still ghetto. Communication is half assed, reliant on email (which feels worse than snail mail of late), and people still get scammed or put into dangerous situations over there.
Small businesses spam it too, taking up used market real estate.
I need one for messenger to work and I have a set of friends who prefer to use messenger to coordinate.
Why is it your responsibility to use Messenger, instead of their responsibility to use something safer and preferably encrypted?
That’s… Not how friend groups work?
The most recent large thread has 21 ppl, all of whom presumably have their own sets of networks etc. It would be unreasonable to demand everyone else switch because of my superior taste and equally unreasonable to demand everyone message me separately about anything I might find relevant.
So you’d jump off a bridge if your friends did too?
Really? That’s your actual response?
Honestly, if all your friends and friend groups are using safer and encrypted media, it probably means you just don’t have that many friends. (Which, hey, no judgement, some of my favourite folks only have a handful and damn do I feel priviliged to be among that small happy few!)
For most people I’ve talked to it’s usually the “It’s the only way to keep up with (friends family etc)” excuse.
Facebook absolutely sucks. I deleted my account in 2019 but I do understand where people are coming from… It was once a decent(ish) place when I joined around 2007/8, but it’s just not worth the bullshit anymore.
Would be nice if there is ever an alternative to come along (pref open source) that everyone can agree on that isn’t so shitty, but I doubt that’ll happen unless fb burns to the ground first.
Mostly because everyone else is also there, and unwilling to change.
I think marketplace keeps it alive. That and inertia, which always exists at baseline wherever you go.
Offer Up started out ok, then got worse over the last 5 years instead of improving. It bought out the 3rd alternative for online thrifting/garage sales/giveaways, became clunkier, made location searches awful to invoke (you need to look up an exact zip code instead of just naming a town or moving a circle around on a map), replaced 1/4 of the posts with retail ads, and sprinkled more ads over the top. It’s absurd.
Whoever launches a solid, user friendly free app into this used market thrift space has a pretty good shot of undermining the hell out of what’s left of meta.
I deleted my facebook account in 2016. Earlier this year I created a new one just to use facebook marketplace. I have zero interest in facebook otherwise.
I deleted my account years ago but if i didn’t it would have been cause its the only social media some of my older relatives use, also marketplace was occasionally useful.
There is no suitable replacement.
My SO is on there for local information. Like we lost water a couple months ago and only knew that it wasn’t just us because of Facebook. Thats a huge failing for the water company. I’ve never been on fb personally, never understood the need the share so much information and I dont care what my family is doing lol
“Is there water coming out of the faucet? Dunno, lemme check facebok, instead of, say, the faucet, the water utility or local news” <= humans are beyond cooked. FB should just make toilet paper - they’ll make a fucking fortune off of humans.
So, sometimes it doesn’t make the news and it doesn’t affect your faucet. Sometimes a loss in water pressure affects most people but not you. I’ve had it where the utility will report it but if I don’t know there’s a problem, how will I know to check?
That’s when I subscribed to my municipality’s alerts
Nice! It’s a good way to stop people from using Facebook as a source. Or… using Facebook.
I guess someone could post a thumbnail of the article’s picture with a QR code leading to the article as a workaround.
Meta, the social media platform’s owner, said it is carrying out a “limited test” in which those without a paid Meta Verified subscription, costing at least £9.99 a month, can only post two external links a month.
Facebook isn’t going to shit fast enough for them, so they’ve hit the nos.
For people saying there’s no alternative… Nothing is the alternative. Just get rid of it. Call or text your family once a week to keep in touch. Talk to your neighbours in person.
Being the first social media to change users for sharing content is a bold move. I predict it won’t be a good move.
what a great way to give a mouthpiece to the under-represented class of people with too much money
Facebook sucks so hard that I’m surprised their servers haven’t collapsed into a singularity
You know what doesn’t charge for links? Friendica.nyt.com . Piefed.cnn.com . Run a bot in CNN.sports, CNN.markets, CNN.entertainment, etc. go fucking nuts.
If Facebook becomes a subscription service, I will delete my account so fast it will change the Earth’s rotation. I only use Facebook for the messenger for a handful of people anyway.
Then just delete now. Be the change you want to see.
