According to Tech Digest, Meta is running a “limited test” where standard Facebook profiles can only post two web links per month. Users who want to share more must pay for a “Meta Verified” subscription at £11.99 per month. Some users are seeing an even more expensive “Meta Max” plan that can cost up to $499.99 (about £374) monthly for unlimited sharing. While news publishers are currently exempt from the fee, the test comes after referrals from Facebook to top news sites plummeted by nearly 60% between 2018 and 2024. Social media consultant Matt Navarra described the platform as becoming a “toll booth,” and the move is seen as a direct threat to the organic sharing that drives web traffic.
The end of free sharing?
Here’s the thing: this isn’t just a weird test. It feels like the final, logical step in a years-long process. Platforms like Facebook, X, and LinkedIn have been slowly suffocating external links for ages, prioritizing video and native posts to keep you glued inside their apps. This? This is making that suppression official policy—and putting a price tag on it. The open web, where you could share a cool article or a blog post with your friends for free, is being fenced off. And Meta is the one selling the tickets.
Who gets hurt the most?
Big news brands might grumble, but they’re temporarily exempt. The real damage lands on the little guys. Think small publishers, indie bloggers, artists trying to sell their work, local businesses—anyone who relies on organic sharing to build an audience without a massive ad budget. They’re already getting hammered by Google’s AI summaries stealing their clicks. Now Facebook wants to tax their outreach, too. Matt Navarra is right: organic traffic is becoming “less dependable by design.” For many, this could be the knockout blow. Can you build a brand online if every basic outreach tool costs hundreds per month?
A toll booth for the internet
So what’s Meta’s play here? The official line is they’re testing if “increased link volume adds value” for paying subscribers. Come on. We all know what this is really about: revenue extraction and control. They’re turning their network into a pay-to-play arena. Want to share your product, your writing, your cause? Pay up. It transforms Facebook from a social network into a utility you have to subscribe to for basic web functions. And that “Meta Max” price tag of nearly £374 is absolutely wild. That’s not for individuals; that’s a business-tier cost, signaling where they see the real money.
Is there any silver lining?
Okay, let’s play devil’s advocate. The one argument you might hear is that this could reduce spam and bot activity. If it costs real money to flood groups with shady links, maybe the overall quality of what’s shared goes up. But is that worth nuking the entire ecosystem of legitimate sharing? Probably not. It’s using a financial sledgehammer to crack a nut that better moderation could solve. This feels less like an anti-spam measure and more like a straightforward monetization strategy wrapped in a thin excuse.
Basically, we’re watching the enshittification curve accelerate. Platforms get you hooked on free services, then slowly wall off the useful parts behind paywalls. This link tax is a huge retreat from the web we knew. And it makes you wonder: if sharing a simple link isn’t free, what’s left of social media that’s actually social?
