Facebook Tests Charging for Link Sharing: A Major Turning Point for Digital Marketing
Meta is testing a change that could significantly reshape how individuals, businesses, and publishers reach audiences on Facebook: limiting the number of external website links users can share unless they pay a fee. The move has quickly sparked controversy across the marketing, media, and creator communities, as it strikes at one of the core features that once defined Facebook’s power — the ability to distribute traffic for free.
According to confirmations from Meta and multiple international technology news outlets, Facebook is rolling out this experiment in selected markets, including the UK, the US, and the Netherlands. Under the test, certain Facebook accounts that are not subscribed to Meta Verified are allowed to share only two posts containing external links per month. Once the limit is reached, users receive a notification encouraging them to subscribe to Meta Verified in order to continue sharing links.
The Meta Verified subscription for individual users is priced at around £11.99 per month, while business accounts or professional pages may face substantially higher fees to gain unlimited link-sharing privileges. Meta says this is merely a test designed to evaluate whether the ability to post more links delivers “added value” to paying users, and it has not announced any plan for a full-scale rollout.
Nevertheless, the experiment has already raised alarms among publishers and marketers. For years, Facebook has been one of the largest sources of referral traffic to news websites, personal blogs, e-commerce platforms, and independent content publishers. Restricting link sharing by individual users — a key driver of organic distribution — risks significantly reducing unpaid traffic across the web.
News publishers are not currently required to pay to post links, but many experts warn that the indirect impact could be more damaging. When individual users are limited in sharing links, articles, investigations, and in-depth content become harder to circulate, especially as Facebook has steadily deprioritized external links in its News Feed algorithm for years.
In fact, this trend is not new. Data from Chartbeat shows that between 2018 and 2024, referral traffic from Facebook to leading news websites dropped by nearly 60%, with only a modest recovery in 2025. At the same time, several major media groups in Europe and the United States have cut hundreds of jobs as advertising revenue and audience traffic declined. Meta’s new test is widely seen as another step in Facebook’s gradual retreat from its former role as a free distribution gateway for journalism and external websites.
For marketers, the implications are even more immediate. Website links are central to most digital marketing strategies, whether for driving traffic to landing pages, selling products, capturing customer data, or nurturing long-term audiences. If link posting becomes restricted or tied to a subscription fee, the cost of acquiring customers through Facebook could rise — even for campaigns that do not rely on paid advertising.
Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, argues that limiting link sharing poses a serious threat to individuals and businesses without large advertising budgets. In his view, the move reinforces a long-term trend in which organic traffic from Facebook is becoming increasingly unreliable and unpredictable. Over time, Facebook is shifting from a platform that offers “free reach” to one that increasingly resembles a “pay-to-be-seen” system — or even a digital toll booth for external websites.
From Meta’s perspective, however, tightening link sharing could help curb spam, low-quality content, and engagement farming. Earlier this year, in May, the company announced new policies to reduce the visibility of posts deemed to be “gaming the system,” such as overly long, repetitive content or excessive hashtag use. Facebook says these measures are intended to protect user experience and create a fairer ecosystem.
Yet for marketers and media professionals, the broader message is clear: Facebook is increasingly prioritizing content that stays within its own ecosystem, including video, long-form posts, and native interactive formats, rather than acting as a bridge that sends users elsewhere. This shift forces brands, publishers, and creators to reassess their reliance on Facebook and diversify their audience strategies — from SEO and email marketing to other social platforms.
While Meta’s experiment with charging for link sharing may not be its final decision, it highlights a difficult-to-reverse trend. In the era of paid social platforms, traffic is no longer a free gift. Instead, it is becoming an asset that must be earned through money, algorithm-friendly content — or both.
