Fact Check: Is Facebook going to start charging in 2023? Viral $7.99 claim debunked 

Over the weekend, a claim arose on the internet that Facebook would begin charging its users $7.99 per month for its services. As per Yahoo, the piece of news first emerged when Channel 13 News reported it. Snopes, a website specializing in debunking misinformation, has already debunked this rumor earlier in June 2023 which seems to resurface every few months.

As soon as the claim became viral, netizens began to share a copy-and-paste post on their social media platforms, which read as follows:

“Since the $7.99 charge is coming, I do not give permission to Facebook to charge $7.99 a month to my account, also, all of my pictures are property of myself and not Facebook!”

The post further confirmed how the news was first broadcast by Channel 13 News that the social media platform will start charging its users on Monday (September 11). In addition, it stated that sharing the post would help people "opt out" from being charged.

Now, according to Snopes, the claim has turned out to be false, as Meta did not make any such announcement, and neither did Channel 13 News, as such a news channel does not legally exist.

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Meta announced in February that verified Facebook accounts may be chargeable in the future

On Sunday, September 10, a piece of news surfaced on the internet that Facebook would begin charging its users $7.99 each month starting the next day (Monday, September 11), which has since been proven false.

As per the claim, the news was first reported by a fake media channel named Channel 13 News, and netizens have since then shared a copy-paste version on their social media handles saying that they do not give permission to Facebook to charge them $7.99 per month and that all their private information and media content on the platform were their sole property and not the platform’s.

A netizen revealed how the claims of Meta charging was false. (Image via X/Jugo)

Not only that, but the copy-paste text stated that the source of the news was Channel 13 News and that users could withdraw the charges by sharing the post. It turns out there is zero legitimacy to the claim, and the platform did not announce it.

However, earlier, in February 2023, parent company Meta announced that in the future it might charge users who wanted to verify their accounts and get a badge for that, a service that has since remained free. In fact, there has been no follow-up on that news in recent months.

In fact, as per the platform's Help Center, users can still continue using the platform free of charge.

“No, we don’t charge you to use Facebook. Instead, we charge advertisers to show ads on Meta Company Products. This helps us make Facebook available to everyone without charging people for access to it.”

What’s interesting is that this is not the first time such a piece of news has surfaced. Previously, it was falsely reported that the platform would charge its users $4.99 per month. It was around the same time that Meta announced its plans to charge users who would wish to have verified accounts.

Back then too, the name Channel 13 News was wrongly used to spread misinformation. In May and June this year, the claim continued but was never proven to be true.

It is important to note that such a claim first emerged in 2009 (three years after the social media platform became public) and was fuelled in 2012.