Facebook is limiting free links for city and nonprofit pages

Facebook pages run by a Texas city library and several nonprofits have been told they can post links in only two posts a month. After that, Meta asks for a paid Meta One subscription. Meta says this test is not supposed to affect nonprofit or government pages. Those pages say it did.

What changed

Meta is testing whether sharing links on Facebook should be part of its Meta One subscription. The test is part of the company's push to sell more subscriptions. A message to one page read: "You can add links to 2 posts per month, and you've used them all." Pages that want to share more must pay.

Prices vary by page. Some were quoted $50 a month for eight links. One nonprofit was quoted $150 a month. Another was offered $40 a month for eight links, $119 for 20 links or $399 for unlimited.

Who got hit

Daniel Starks runs communications for Greenville, Texas, a city of about 35,000 with nearly a dozen Facebook pages. The library's page hit the limit. He says more than half of what the city does is link back to its website. The page is labeled as a government building and was previously verified by Meta.

Nonprofits were caught too. The pages Engadget spoke with are labeled as nonprofits and approved for Meta's fundraising tools. Bethany English, co-president of East Side Pawject, a small pet food pantry group in Indianapolis, said paying $150 a month is hard to justify. Jeff Bannister of SparkPoint in North Carolina called $50 for eight links "crazy."

Why it is confusing

Meta did not explain why nonprofits are seeing the limits. It said it will keep changing the experience based on feedback. Meta's own descriptions of its plans and its help pages do not say the link limit is a test. Some people can still post links in comments. Others cannot.

Meta has said Meta One plans unlock specialized capabilities and AI features. Adding a link is one of Facebook's oldest features, and some see tying it to a subscription as a cash grab.

How pages are responding

• Greenville stopped putting links in posts and now places them in comments, and told followers so.
• English is considering Facebook events and asking board members to add links from personal profiles, which are exempt.
• Bannister is looking at sharing information with other local nonprofits to rely less on Facebook.

What is not known yet

One group, California Freethought Day, had its limit lifted this week after being restricted days before its annual event. It is unclear whether other pages will get the same reversal, or whether Meta will make the limit permanent.