Facebook is testing a system that charges users for sharing web links, in a move that could prove to be a further blow to news outlets and other publishers.

Meta, the social media platform’s owner, said it is carrying out a “limited test” in which those without a paid Meta Verified subscription, costing at least £9.99 a month, can only post two external links a month.

The test appears to involve a subset of Facebook pages and user profiles on Professional Mode, which includes features used by content creators to monetise their posts.

News organisations are not included in the test. However, the move could hit newsrooms and other media publishers as it may stop their users from sharing their content.

Publishers already saw a huge fall in online traffic after a Meta decision in 2023 to de-prioritise news content and switch to featuring more videos and viral, short-form content. Facebook traffic to news sites had been recovering this year, but was down 50% in a year in 2024, according to some measures.

The latest trial is part of a campaign to find ways of encouraging Facebook users to sign up to Meta Verified, which costs from £9.99 up to almost £400 per month per profile depending on the tier. It offers extra account features and security.

In screenshots shared by users, Facebook warns: “Starting 16 December, certain Facebook profiles without Meta Verified will be limited to sharing two organic [ie free] posts per month. Subscribe to Meta Verified to share more links on Facebook, plus get a verified badge and additional benefits.”

David Buttle, the founder of media consultancy DJB Strategies, said Meta had been “in a deliberate retreat from news for several years”.

“After withdrawing from publisher payments, and blocking news links entirely in Canada in response to regulation, it has made clear that news is no longer strategic,” he said.

“This latest experiment – which for now excludes publishers – reinforces a shift away from free distribution and towards monetising reach, as Meta looks to squeeze more value from legacy platforms.

“This may be linked to its costly and widely acknowledged misstep in the metaverse, while now doubling down on AI.”

A Meta spokesperson said: “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.”

In January, Meta said it would “take a more personalised approach to political content, so that people who want to see more of it in their feeds can”. That move appears to have led to more news content appearing once again, according to analysis by Press Gazette and Similarweb.

It found that one of the biggest winners was the Express, owned by Reach. Facebook grew as a source of its social traffic by 26% in a year. The site made up 75% of all social traffic to the Express in March.