Facebook is set to charge UK users £10 to send messages to people outside their circle of friends.
But is this just the start of future costs…
The social networking giant is introducing the charges in an attempt to ‘prevent spam’ with users being charged for contacting celebrities or anyone who isn’t a friend or a friend of a friend.
Charges could be as little as 70p but could also rise to £10. Last week, anyone attempting to send a message to Olympic gold medallist diver Tom Daley faced having to pay £10.68.
The charging system is said to be based on an algorithm which calculates how many followers a celebrity has on the social network. US rapper Snoop Dogg (Lion) , for example, commands a fee of £10.08 to send a message to.
Commenting on the new charges, Facebook said in a statement: ‘The system of paying to message non-friends in their inbox is to prevent spam while acknowledging that sometimes you want to hear from people outside you immediate social circle.
‘We are testing a number of price points in the UK and other countries to establish the optimal fee that signals importance.’
According to the Sunday Times, Facebook users can pay the fee online but under-18s are prevented from doing so and are also blocked from receiving messages from outside their friendship group.
If users want to contact people who they aren’t friends with, they can either spend a small free which will cause the message to appear in their inbox or send it for free but the communication will appear in a more discreet folder which reportedly many are unaware of.
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