Facebook’s New Link Limit Test: Why Sharing More Than Two Links May Soon Cost £9.99
18 December 2025
Facebook is testing a new limit on how many links some users can share on its platform, with notifications sent to selected accounts in the UK and US stating they will only be able to post two links per month unless they pay for a subscription starting at £9.99, according to technology reporter Liv McMahon and statements from Meta.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has described the move as a “limited test” aimed at understanding whether allowing subscribers to publish a higher volume of posts containing links “adds additional value” for those paying users.
What Facebook is testing and who is affected
Notifications seen by affected users indicate that, from mid-December 2025, some accounts will be capped at two link posts per month on Facebook unless they subscribe to a paid tier reportedly starting at £9.99 per month. The test appears to apply to a subset of users in the UK and US, though Meta has not publicly detailed precise eligibility criteria or the total number of accounts involved.
The restriction concerns posts that include external links — URLs that direct users away from Facebook to other websites. Regular status updates, photo uploads, or videos without external links do not appear to fall under the stated cap, based on information shared by users participating in the test.
In a statement cited by the BBC, Meta said the experiment is intended to gauge how valuable the ability to publish a higher volume of link posts is to subscribers, rather than to introduce an immediate, platform-wide change.
The company has not confirmed whether the test will be expanded, made permanent, or adjusted following this initial trial period.
How the link limit relates to Meta Verified
The link-sharing experiment builds on Meta’s broader shift toward subscription-based services. Meta Verified — launched in 2023 on Facebook and Instagram — offers paying users a blue verification badge, additional account support, and what the company describes as enhanced protection against impersonation.
While Meta says Meta Verified is designed to improve safety, visibility and support for individuals and businesses, analysts note that it also marks a significant move away from a purely advertising-supported model toward direct user payments for core features and reach.
The new link quota test effectively extends this subscription logic into content distribution itself — specifically, the ability to share and promote external content and websites via Facebook posts.
Experts say test targets traffic and “survival features”
Social media consultant Matt Navarra, who shared details of his own notification, said he was told that from 16 December he would only be able to share two links per month in Facebook posts unless he subscribed.
“This isn't really about verification as much as about bundling survival features behind a subscription,” Navarra told the BBC, arguing that the test signals Meta’s wider effort to monetise core aspects of its platforms.
Navarra characterised the move as a shift toward charging for “the basic ability to send people” to other parts of the internet, saying creators and businesses that rely on Facebook for traffic could face new costs.
“If you're a creator or a business, I think the message is essentially if Facebook is a part of your growth or traffic strategy, that access now has a price tag attached to it,” he said. “And that's new in its explicitness, even if it's been the direction of travel for a while.”
He added that the development reinforces what he called a “brutal reality” for creators and publishers:
“Facebook is no longer a reliable traffic engine and Meta is increasingly nudging it away from people trying to use it as one.”
Navarra argued that “Meta will always optimise for Meta, first”, warning that tests like this underline the risk for any business that depends heavily on a single social platform’s algorithms or policies for audience reach and revenue.
How Facebook’s trial compares with X and other platforms
Facebook’s experiment follows broader changes across the social media industry, where major services have begun charging for visibility, verification and additional tools.
After purchasing Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk overhauled the platform’s verification system and rebranded the service as X. The blue check mark, once reserved for notable or verified accounts, became primarily a paid feature, with subscribers receiving boosted prominence in replies and in the algorithmic “For You” feed.
Meta introduced Meta Verified soon afterwards, in what many analysts saw as a response to X’s subscription push. LinkedIn has also promoted various paid tiers that unlock advanced analytics, sales tools or recruitment features, although it has not placed caps on basic posting or linking for regular users.
The key distinction in Facebook’s current test is the explicit link between payment and the ability to drive traffic off-platform, which has long been a core reason publishers, creators and businesses invest time and resources into building Facebook audiences.
From traffic powerhouse to restricted reach
For more than a decade, Facebook functioned as a major traffic source for news outlets, bloggers and online retailers. Changes to the News Feed algorithm, however, have repeatedly altered the visibility of posts that contain links versus other content types such as videos or posts from friends and family.
In 2018, for example, Facebook announced that it would prioritise “meaningful social interactions” from friends and family over public content from publishers and brands, leading to declines in referral traffic for many websites. More recent shifts have seen increased emphasis on short-form video and content recommended by algorithms, rather than posts users explicitly follow.
Industry observers say these changes have already made Facebook a less predictable driver of clicks and revenue, especially for small publishers and independent creators. The new link-sharing caps under test could further formalise this trend by directly tying outbound linking capabilities to a paid subscription.
Meta has not commented in detail on how such a model would intersect with existing advertising products, such as paid link ads and boosted posts, which already allow businesses to pay for guaranteed reach and click-through potential.
Supporters and critics weigh possible outcomes
Supporters of the test, including some platform strategists, suggest that limiting unpaid, high-volume link sharing could reduce spam, repetitive promotional content and low-quality clickbait, while encouraging more deliberate posting behaviour from users who choose not to subscribe.
They also argue that subscription revenue could diversify Meta’s income beyond targeted advertising, potentially giving the company more flexibility to respond to privacy regulations and changes in tracking technologies that have affected digital ad performance.
Critics, however, warn that making outbound links a premium feature risks entrenching larger organisations that can absorb subscription costs while squeezing smaller creators, local newsrooms, non-profits and community groups that depend on Facebook’s free posting tools to reach audiences.
Digital rights advocates have also raised broader concerns about how paywalled reach, algorithmic promotion and verification could together reshape public discourse, prioritising content from those able to pay for visibility.
Meta has not yet responded in detail to these criticisms in public statements about the specific link-sharing test, beyond emphasising its experimental nature.
What it could mean for creators, publishers and businesses
For creators and businesses that rely on Facebook as part of a broader growth or traffic strategy, the test underscores the importance of diversification. Navarra and other analysts argue that building an audience solely on one platform exposes organisations to sudden changes in reach, cost and policy.
Some marketers may choose to absorb the subscription fee if it becomes widely available, treating it as a cost of doing business to maintain regular outbound linking. Others may shift focus to alternative channels such as email newsletters, search engine optimisation, or other social platforms that do not yet charge for basic link-sharing capacity.
The test may also influence how creators structure their content, potentially encouraging more on-platform publishing using Facebook tools such as native video, longer text posts or in-app shops, rather than directing users away to external sites.
Meta has not provided a timeline for evaluating the results of the experiment or for deciding whether to roll the feature out more broadly, adjust its pricing, or abandon the trial.
Related coverage and further reading
Outlook: An experiment with wider implications
Facebook’s trial of a £9.99 monthly subscription to bypass a two-link posting limit is, for now, a limited experiment affecting a subset of users. Yet it sits within a broader shift in social media toward paid verification, prioritised reach and direct monetisation of features that were once free.
How Meta evaluates user uptake, creator response and potential revenue will help determine whether the link cap becomes a permanent feature, is reshaped, or is retired. Regardless of the outcome, the test highlights the evolving relationship between large platforms and the creators, publishers and businesses that depend on them to reach audiences online.
