In a new experiment, Meta is limiting the number of links users can post on Facebook, unless they have a paid Meta Verified subscription.
Over the last week, several users have spotted Meta’s test, which impacts link posting. Social media strategist Matt Navvara noted that users part of the test can only post two links unless they pay for a Meta Verified subscription, which starts from $14.99 per month.
According to the screenshot posted by Navarra, users can still post affiliate links, comments, and links to Meta platform posts, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The company confirmed the test to TechCrunch and said it impacts those people using professional mode and Facebook Pages. Professional mode lets you convert your personal profile into a creator profile while making your content eligible for discovery by a wider audience.
“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,” a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch.
This would directly impact creators and brands posting links from their blogs or other platforms to reach a wider audience.
The company said it is trying to learn how it can add more value to Meta Verified subscribers, and this test is one such experiment to enhance that paid plan. The company added that, at the moment, publishers are not included in this test. It also said that users can still post links in comments, and they are not impacted by the limit.
In its transparency report for Q3, Meta said that more than 98% views on the feed in the U.S. come from the posts that don’t have any links. It is not clear if this signal pushed the company to experiment with limits on link sharing, however. The company said that the majority of the 1.9% of views of posts with links came from a page they followed. Linked posts shared by friends and groups were minimal.
The same report noted that YouTube and TikTok, along with GoFundMe, were the top domains amid the links posted. With the new link posting limit test, creators and brands would be forced to post content from other Meta platforms if they reached their limit, or stop posting altogether if they didn’t want to pay for a subscription.
As AI has taken over the internet, there is an ever-raging debate about the link-based web. AI summary and search have impacted the publishing industry negatively. In the past few years, social networks like X have toyed with demoting linked posts to encourage users to post content on the platforms natively.
