14 DAY TRIAL // Hoaxes and scams that claim Facebook is going to start charging users have been around for a long time. Now, another one is making the rounds.
“PLEASE JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN. PLEASE SHARE IF YOU ARE AGAINST IT. News just out. Facebook are planning to charge all users £1.00 per month to continue using their services from 1st January 2015. Share this to your friends if you are against this and think it is unacceptable. Dislike THE SUR-CHARGE PLAN,” the hoax posts read.
The message is fake. Facebook will not be charging anyone and there’s no “sur-charge” plan. However, as Hoax Slayer points out, the initiators of this disinformation campaign have even gone to the trouble of making a banner.
Facebook makes money via advertising and charging users at this point doesn’t make any sense.
As always, be sure to check out the legitimacy of such claims on trusted news sites before reposting messages like this on Facebook.
This is a relatively harmless campaign. However, users who share these posts will likely also share posts that lead to malicious websites.