Will I Have to Pay for Facebook?

No. Facebook is going to remain free for all to use. This is clearly stated on Facebook’s Help Center. If you read somewhere that Facebook is going to begin charging everyone for access, that’s just an old hoax that gets passed around every few years. Don’t spread that nonsense, please!

But Meta is starting a paid service for Facebook and Instagram accounts, called Meta Verified. This new offering is purely optional. Starting at $12/month, this service is intended for famous people and content creators, and will offer them a special badge of authenticity and access to human tech support.

Meta Verified is not meant for regular people like you and me. It’s meant for celebrities and people who are more often targeted by criminals and impostors. Most of my readers can forgo this expense, and keep using Facebook as they always have.

I do see people grumping about this change, specifically where Meta Verified users get access to real live help at Facebook. Regular users get almost no assistance, if they are ever locked out of their accounts. It may seem unfair that, to get proper support, you have to pay up to the Almighty Zuck.

But the harsh counterpoint to that is: If you use Facebook for free, you are not a customer. You are the product. Facebook makes most of its money from their true customers (advertisers), selling access to their resource, a vast, semi-captive audience. While this point of view doesn’t make it feel any better, it may help explain why Meta does so little for us regular Facebook users.