Meta Tests Limiting Link Sharing on Facebook for Public Users

JAKARTA - Facebook is reportedly testing restrictions on the number of links that users can share, especially for accounts that have not subscribed to the Meta Verified service.

First revealed by social media consultant Matt Navara on Threads, he said that some unverified users can only share up to two links per month in their Facebook posts.

"This trial limits the number of organic Facebook posts containing links that can be published by some non-verified accounts," said Navara.

Meta has also confirmed the news, saying "This is a limited trial to understand if the ability to publish higher volumes of link-heavy posts adds value for Meta Verified customers."

A source familiar with the testing also told Navara that these restrictions are not applied evenly. That is, the number of allowed links varies depending on the account.

Meanwhile, Meta Verified customers are not affected by these restrictions. Meta confirmed that this trial is not a permanent policy change.

This experiment aims to measure whether the verification badge can serve as a trust signal for users, especially when viewing links from accounts they haven't followed.

In addition, Meta aims to see whether increasing the capacity of sharing links actually increases the value of their Meta Verified service or not.

However, it's worth noting that adding links in comments is not included in this trial. That is, adding links in comments should still work.

"However, some users report that the link still changes to plain text on some posts, profiles, or pages," concluded Navara.