Facebook's parent company, Meta, has launched a controversial test that could see ordinary users charged for sharing web links on the platform, a move media analysts fear will deliver another significant blow to struggling news publishers.
The Details of the Facebook Link Trial
Meta confirmed it is running a "limited test" where Facebook profiles operating in Professional Mode, but without a paid Meta Verified subscription, will be restricted to posting just two external links per month. The subscription service costs from £9.99 to nearly £400 monthly, depending on the tier selected.
In screenshots shared online, Facebook alerts users: "Starting 16 December, certain Facebook profiles without Meta Verified will be limited to sharing two organic [ie free] posts per month. Subscribe to Meta Verified to share more links on Facebook, plus get a verified badge and additional benefits."
The trial currently excludes official news organisation pages. However, it directly targets the behaviour of individual users and content creators, potentially creating a major new barrier to the free sharing of news articles and other published content.
A Continued Retreat from News Content
This experiment is seen as the latest step in Meta's strategic withdrawal from news distribution. The company de-prioritised news in its algorithms in 2023, leading to a dramatic collapse in referral traffic to news websites. Although there was some recovery in 2024, Facebook traffic to news sites remains down by approximately 50% year-on-year by some metrics.
David Buttle, founder of media consultancy DJB Strategies, stated that Meta has been in a "deliberate retreat from news for several years." He highlighted the company's withdrawal from publisher payment schemes and its news block in Canada as evidence.
"This latest experiment – which for now excludes publishers – reinforces a shift away from free distribution and towards monetising reach, as Meta looks to squeeze more value from legacy platforms," Buttle explained. "This may be linked to its costly and widely acknowledged misstep in the metaverse, while now doubling down on AI."
Potential Impact and Wider Context
For publishers, the threat is clear: if rolled out widely, the policy could severely limit the organic sharing of their journalism, further eroding a vital source of online audience. The test appears designed to drive uptake of Meta Verified, which offers extra features and security.
A Meta spokesperson said: "This is a limited test to understand whether the ability to publish an increased volume of posts with links adds additional value for Meta Verified subscribers."
This development follows a January announcement where Meta said it would take a more personalised approach to political content. Interestingly, analysis by Press Gazette and Similarweb suggested this later change led to a resurgence of news content in feeds for some users. One notable beneficiary was the Express, owned by Reach, which saw Facebook grow as a source of its social traffic by 26% in a year, accounting for 75% of all its social traffic in March 2024.
Nevertheless, the new link-posting trial signals a potentially more fundamental and financially driven constraint on the free flow of information, placing another hurdle between newsrooms and their public.
