Meta is trying something new. Or depending on how you look at it, something very familiar.
In a new experiment, Facebook is limiting how many links users can post unless they pay for a Meta Verified subscription. If you are part of the test and not paying, you can post two links. After that, the platform politely suggests your wallet get involved.
The subscription starts at $14.99 per month, which is apparently the price of not being annoying with links.
Over the past week, several users noticed the change. Social media strategist Matt Navarra was one of the first to call it out, sharing screenshots that showed the link cap in action.
Meta clarified that it applies to users in Professional Mode and to Facebook Pages. Professional Mode turns a personal profile into a creator-style account and makes posts eligible for broader discovery.
So yes, the people most likely to share links are also the people being limited.
Despite the limit, not all links are treated equally. Users in the test can still post affiliate links, add links in comments, and share links that point back to Meta-owned platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
In other words, links are fine, as long as they keep users inside the Meta ecosystem or help Meta collect a cut.
Meta also said that publishers are not currently included in this test, and that links in comments are unaffected. For now, at least.
According to a Meta spokesperson, this is a limited experiment designed to see if the ability to publish more link-heavy posts adds extra value for Meta Verified subscribers.
Translated into human language, Meta is trying to figure out how to make its paid subscription feel more worth it without saying that out loud.
This test is part of a broader push to add perks to Meta Verified, which has slowly been turning into a bundle of features that used to be free.
In Meta’s Q3 transparency report, the company revealed that more than 98 percent of feed views in the U.S. came from posts without any links at all.
Only about 1.9 percent of views were driven by posts with links, and most of those came from pages users already followed. Linked posts shared by friends or groups barely registered.
Meta did not say directly that this data caused the link limit test, but the timing makes the connection hard to ignore.
The same report noted that YouTube, TikTok, and GoFundMe were among the most shared domains, which likely did not help the case for letting links roam free.
If this test becomes permanent, creators and brands will be pushed even harder toward posting native content or linking back to Meta platforms instead of their own sites.
Once the two-link limit is hit, the options become simple. Pay for Meta Verified, stop posting links, or change everything into comments and captions that technically follow the rules.
None of those options are especially friendly to people trying to drive traffic off-platform.
This experiment fits neatly into a larger pattern across social platforms.
As AI-generated summaries, search answers, and recommendation engines take over discovery, the traditional link-based web keeps losing leverage. Publishers feel it. Creators feel it. Anyone relying on referral traffic definitely feels it.
Platforms like X have already played with demoting linked posts in favor of native content. Meta is now doing the same thing, just with a subscription layer attached.
The message is getting louder and harder to ignore.
Post here. Stay here. Pay if you want more freedom.
If this improves the user experience or just quietly taxes creators remains to be seen. But the direction is clear, and links are no longer the priority they once were.
