Meta Link Caps Reach City and Nonprofit Pages Despite Exemption Pledge

Facebook pages for a Texas city library and a small Indiana pet food charity have been cut off from sharing links in posts, part of a Meta test charging $50 or more monthly for subscriptions that permit more links. The Greenville, Texas, library page had used its two allowed links for October and would need a Meta One plan at $50 or above to add more. Bethany English, co-president of East Side Pawject in Indianapolis, found last week that she could not attach her website link to an event post because her two monthly links were spent.

Meta's published tiers run $14.99 a month for no extra link sharing, $49.99 for eight links, $149.99 for 20 links and $499.99 for unlimited links. The company has tested paid linking for nearly a year, first under Meta Verified and now as part of Meta One. A Meta spokesperson said the company has been "testing whether sharing links on Facebook should be part of the Meta One subscription." The company has said it is not supposed to affect government and nonprofit accounts.

Daniel Starks, communications manager for Greenville, a city of about 35,000, oversees nearly a dozen city Facebook pages. He said more than half of the city's communication points residents to its website. Starks told staff to stop placing links in posts and put URLs in comments instead, and he made a graphic explaining the change. "When you have an official governmental entity that is trying to get out in some instances very, very, important information, and we're being paywalled by Facebook all because we're trying to post a link, that's a problem," he said.

East Side Pawject has just under 1,000 followers and uses its page to help people find pet food pantries, donate and volunteer. An "expert" plan allowing 20 links a month would cost English $150. She is considering creating dedicated Facebook events or asking board members to post links from personal profiles, which are exempt from the restrictions.

Jeff Bannister, marketing manager at SparkPoint, a public health nonprofit in Transylvania County, North Carolina, called $50 for eight links "crazy" and said the return on investment "seems almost negative." He is exploring ways for local nonprofits to share information with one another to depend less on Facebook, though he noted that much of the county remains on the platform.

David Diskin, president of California Freethought Day, an annual civic engagement event in Sacramento, was told of the limit earlier this month, days before the event. He was quoted $40 monthly for eight links, $119 for 20, or $399 for unlimited. The restriction was lifted this week without explanation. "It wasn't until after our big fundraiser had passed that they fixed the problem," he said.

Meta's plan descriptions and help center pages do not say the link restriction is a test. In an update on October 23, 2026, a Meta spokesperson said pages must list "nonprofit" in the category section of their Facebook page for Meta's systems to recognize them as such. It remains unclear why organizations that state their status elsewhere, or that use Meta's fundraising tools, are not identified.